Ozzie's Grindhouse: Hippies, Goths and Ghosts
by Ozzie Bastard
Summary: Dedicated to David Mitton. Henry deals with a bad situation... and his younger sister. The Island deals with the shock return of an old friend. And Henry has to deal with two engines fighting for his soul.
1. Chapter 1: The Grinding of Broken Hearts

Ozzie's Grindhouse© 2008

**Ozzie's Grindhouse Presents "Hippies, Goths and Ghosts"**

Dedicated to the Memory of David Mitton (1938-2008)

Dear friends and fans of Thomas,

Sad news on the Island of Sodor. The man that literally helped to bring Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends to life has sadly left us. We salute a legend with a sorrow filled "peep peep" and a hearty horns up from all of his loyal friends, followers and fans alike. Farewell David, the Island of Sodor will feel incomplete without you. Now for some good news. The Island is changing for the better. The engines don't mind the work; they love to feel needed from what I am told. Yet all is not well. My good friend Henry is feeling unwell. For one thing, he's dealing with some serious issues. And another, he's discovered that he has a sister! Who is this mystery engine? Well, read on and find out. \m/\m/ – Ozzie Bastard.

**Chapter One: The Grinding of Broken Hearts**

It was a beautiful day on the Island of Sodor. All the engines were kept busy with an increased number of goods and passenger services. The Island itself was going through some radical changes. It was modernizing. New industries developed and new technologies were being brought to the fold. A new radio tower was being built for the growing demands of mobile phone usage. New car dealerships sprang up on the Island, new shopping plazas were under construction and new internet and phone cables were being laid. The Fat Controller assured the engines that the railway itself wouldn't be modernized in any way (aside from the new GPS SatNav systems being fitted into every engine) but the engines didn't care. They were ecstatic at the new changes brought forth on the Island. All the engines worked hard and never complained. Well, except one. Henry was the only engine on the Island who wasn't working. He was feeling miserable and refused to come out of his shed. It wasn't boiler problems that were bothering him. Oh no! This was something that went much deeper. And, indeed, a lot more painful. You see, a long time ago, Henry suffered from severe water leakage in his tubes and couldn't build up enough steam. During one run of shunting a long train full of coal, Henry was forced to stop as his tank ran dry from the severe leaking. Emily had shown great concern for Henry throughout the day and came to his aid when Henry ground to a halt.

Ever since then, the two began talking to each other, sometimes rather openly about their most candid secrets. Pretty soon, the two engines hit it off, becoming the hot new couple on Sodor. They seemed happy together, garnering the envy of the entire engine community. It certainly seemed to make Henry happy. He hardly ever smiled as much as he did. But then, it all came to a halt. Emily took Henry aside one day and told that things weren't working out between them and decided to break up with him. Henry was devastated and heartbroken. The break up left him feeling miserable and dead inside. Henry was so depressed that he couldn't concentrate on his work. Often times, he would just sit in the shed for days and cry. Henry would refuse to come out, saying that there was nothing worth coming out for at all. The Fat Controller, in his own fatherly sense, consoled Henry for weeks after the incident and decided to let him work things out for himself. This brings us to the day in question. Henry was still feeling miserable; his fits of uncontrollable crying had reduced to silent mourning. Henry sat alone in the dark, empty shed. A few streaks of sunshine sliced through the window. Henry watched the streaks slowly crawl along the dusty floor. He sighed deeply and glanced around the shed. As he did so, one set of doors creaked open. The bright sunshine practically blinded Henry. Rolling into the engine berth next to him was James. He had returned after pulling the _Flying Kipper_, Henry's flagship train. James was exhausted after his long night of hauling fish back and forth from Tidmouth. He seemed too exhausted to berate Henry for his moody nature as of late. In fact, James seemed to be… changing.

"Hey there, sweetie." James greeted Henry, something completely out of character.

"Oh, hey there, James." Henry glanced over. His eyes still filled with sorrow.

"Still feeling like crap from that bitch's breakup, are you?" James asked.

"Yeah. Aren't you gonna put me down with your "Rubbish Henry" or "You're just too lazy, misery wheels"?" Henry replied; the anger was clear in his voice.

"Oh, by no means." James replied looking rather hurt. "I think it was terrible the way Emily toyed with you like that. It was totally uncalled for and you shouldn't have deserved it."

Henry wasn't feeling better, he was still not registering James' act of kindness. He was most bemused. "I know it was totally uncalled for. That's what everyone else has been telling me. What I don't understand is your change of attitude towards me."

"Hey, I'm being sympathetic here." James gently assured him. "I went through the same thing you're going through right now. I went through a period where I was confused about who I really was and about my own sexuality. I was afraid that the others would reject me for my life choices and, therefore, become an outcast. But then I admitted that I wasn't doing myself any good at all keeping it hidden. So I summoned up the courage and admitted to everyone that I was gay." Henry's mouth dropped open like a trapdoor. He could hardly believe what he had just heard.

"Wait a minute, you're gay? When did this happen?"

"About three weeks ago. Did nobody tell you?" James wondered.

"No. No one did." Henry looked puzzled.

"Oh, that sucks." James sighed and thought for a second. "You know what you need to do, Henry? Go back to work, it'll clear your mind and help you get over the, ahem, unpleasantness." Henry perked up a bit. And yet, one thing troubled him.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Henry asked sheepishly.

"Oh, I don't know." James answered. "Maybe coming out of the preverbal closet has brought out the nice engine inside me. Or maybe it's because I've spent most of the night taking your train and I'm just exhausted. I can't really tell." James paused for a moment. "Look, that my advice, hun. Forget that bitch and go do some heavy shunting. You'll feel better. Trust me."James closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. Henry pondered for a minute. "James is right." He said to himself. "I should get back to work; I think I've suffered in this cage long enough." Henry noticed that James' crew had stuck around, checking his systems and polishing up different odds and ends. Henry called to James' fireman and asked that he contact his crew with the message that he was ready to go back to work. The fireman gladly obliged and rushed to the nearest phone.

Soon, Henry was fired up and full of steam. He set to work pulling passengers along Thomas' branch line. Henry felt good getting back to work; his mind was clearing of all the negative thoughts that had plagued him for so long. When Henry reached Elsbridge station, the painful thoughts had completely left his mind. Well, almost. "How are you feeling, old boy?" Henry's driver called to him.

"Great. I haven't felt this good in a long time." He replied with a smile on his face.

"Fantastic. That James knew exactly the right remedy to ease your-" All of a sudden, Henry's driver was distracted by an approaching engine. "Oh shit. Here comes trouble." He murmured. Pulling into the station was Emily. Henry gulped slightly as she came to a stop. Emily looked over to Henry apprehensively. "Oh, hello there, Henry." She said.

"Emily." Henry greeted her. The awkwardness between the two engines was settling in thick and fast. Their respective drivers shared their engines nervous dispositions as well. The silence was deafening. "How have you been?" Emily finally broke the silence.

"Oh, I've been doing better." Henry answered. "I still can't really get over it, but I've been working to relieve the pain. And you?"

"Me? Round about the same. I've been working things out too." Emily sighed.

"Good, good." The awkwardness was getting worse. Emily's fireman tugged at his collar, he knew that this wasn't going to end well. Emily exhaled deeply.

"Listen. I don't want to let this thing get between us. I still want to be friends."

"I do too, but it's a little hard to be friends with the engine that broke your heart." Henry moaned. "You burned me, Emily. But I'll get over that in time."

"I know you will, Henry." Emily broke out a small grin. "I know you will."

Just then, Diesel, Emily's new boyfriend, slithered up along side her. He gave her a dark look. "What are you doing talking to this loser?" he coldly spoke, his thick Russian accent making him sound menacing. "You have passengers waiting."

"Yes, uh, sweetie." Emily squeaked as the station master blow his whistle and she rolled out the station. Diesel glared darkly at Henry. "As for YOU!" he growled. Henry shook in his axles.

"You talk to my girl again and I will kill you." he snarled. "Got it?"

"Y-y-y-y-yes, Diesel." Henry stammered. Diesel grunted as he rattled away. Henry was frightened beyond words. His face was white as a sheet. "Ignore him, Henry." His driver comforted him. "Let's us get back to the job at-"

"Take me home." Henry cut him off.

"Excuse me?" his driver asked.

"I was right. This is nothing worth it for me on the outside world. Take me back to the sheds, NOW!" Henry demanded. His driver and fireman were forced to comply. What choice did they have? Edward was called to take over for Henry's service at Wellsworth station, he hated seeing him so distraught and broken up. Henry brooded all the way to the sheds. As he was parked in his berth, Henry shut his eyes and started to cry. The driver and fireman could do nothing more than shut off his systems and wander home. Henry was back to square one and he didn't like it one bit. He felt worse than ever.

The following day at Knapford station; Thomas, James, Duck and Percy were discussing Henry's situation. He was not getting any better. As a matter of fact, his depression was sinking lower. The engines were deeply troubled by this. "I'm very worried about Henry." Thomas spoke up. "His depression is getting worse and I don't know if he'll ever recover from it."

"I know." Percy chimed in. "I've seen Henry depressed and woeful before and I've always teased for that. But I've never seen him like this. I feel ashamed for teasing him."

"Lord knows how much he has suffered not just because of his breakup." Duck added.

"I personally blame that God damn Diesel!" James snapped out loud. "If he hadn't torn into Henry like he did, he wouldn't be so despondent right now." James was fuming. "I tell you what, if I ever come across that commie bastard, I'll rip open his cold, black hide and take out his fucking soul."

The other engines heartedly agreed. At that moment, Gordon pulled up to the station with his express. Unlike the other engines, Gordon had showed some callousness towards Henry's spiraling depression and had overheard the conversation. "If you want my opinion." He boasted full of pride. "Henry is making too much of a big deal of this. He has never been able to cope with these sorts of situations. Something of a self-loather, I believe. I say Henry should suck it up and get over it." The engines frowned at Gordon.

"Say what?" Thomas yelped. "You of all engines should be sympathetic."

"What do you mean?" Gordon asked.

"Don't you remember your relationship with Molly? You broke up with her and she ended up depressed and torn up inside. She wouldn't stop crying for weeks." Gordon pretended to feign ignorance. "And she was so distraught and out of her mind with grief that she ended up tossing herself off the broken viaduct." Thomas almost broke out into tears when he finished but he was focused on his anger towards Gordon.

"Well, it wasn't my fault." Gordon pleaded his case. "You saw the accident report, her brakes were faulty and she became a runaway."

"You idiot." Thomas scoffed. "You know that theory was never entirely proven. She threw herself off that viaduct because you broke her heart."

"And with no conveniently placed garbage barge to break her fall." Added James. "Poor thing died when she hit the water." The other engines reluctantly agreed. They didn't want to remember the tragic event that unfolded that day, but they did.

Molly had been dated Gordon for several months before the accident. But when things fizzled between them, Molly was devastated. She was depressed for days, refusing to come out of her shed. At times, Molly would cry for hours on end. Edward, playing the big brother card, often stopped by her shed and consoled her. Days before the accident, Molly had finally reached the point where was ready to go back to work, despite the crippling pain in her boiler. One day, Molly was on her way to the Works. Her driver had noticed that her brakes was slipping and needed new brake pads. The driver and fireman had stopped briefly to grab a morning coffee from the local _StarTrucks_ coffee house. What happened then was nothing short of tragic. Molly's brakes slipped and she ended up rolling down the line. Her driver and fireman scrambled to catch up but she picked up too much speed and disappeared into the distance. Indeed, Molly was a runaway. Signalmen tried desperately to divert Molly to any safer routes, away from traffic. It worked, up to a point. However, fate as it would seem stood in the way. Ahead lay serious danger. The viaduct was being rebuilt after part of it collapsed due to severe decay. There was only one more set of points that would have saved Molly, the points leading away from the viaduct. However, the circumstances did not play into Molly's favour. The signalman at the time was fighting a severe illness and had subsequently fainted at the controls. As Molly passed the last set of points, her fate was sealed. She was doomed.

Workmen on the viaduct weren't notified of the runaway Molly and had only seconds to scramble to safety. They could do nothing expect watch her plow into the breakdown van and plunge into the gap. Molly tumbled for what felt like an eternity before plunging deep into the waters below. It took salvage crews a long while before they pulled Molly out from the bottom of river. But by that time, news of her demise had reached the yards. No one knew what happened until they saw Molly's remains being transported on a flatbed. Though she was covered with a large tarpaulin, the engines all thought the worst. In the accident report; one workman reported making eye contact with Molly. The sight of her helpless and tear filled eyes haunted the workman for weeks. It was the saddest day to ever hit Sodor. All the engines mourned Molly's tragic passing for a long time. Most of them never really got over it. That happened almost three months ago. Back at Knapford, the engines feel silent. Deathly silent. Each remembered Molly in their own way. Duck had always helped Molly whenever she ran into trouble. It was often said that Duck had a thing for her. Percy had always looked up to Molly as his big sister. She was not averse to getting dirty with Percy. They had loads of fun together playing in the mud. James was always teased by the others saying that Molly had a crush on him before she dated Gordon. Yet he always denied such rumours as childish speculation. James would tease Molly back, which is something he now regretted. The tragic death of Molly had affected Thomas most of all. On the day he met her, it was he that made her feel special and needed, teaching her that empty trucks are just as important as full ones. As for Gordon, well, he felt remorseful at how things had ended. None of the engines spoke, they didn't want to. They were in a state of silent mourning.

As the engines stood in silence, Emily pulled up to the station with her rail service. She appeared to be full of glee. "Hello gentlemen." She tooted. None of the other engines responded, they had all drifted off into their own worlds. Emily tooted again, this time with annoyance. "_Heeelllllloooo_ gentlemen!" This broke the other engines concentrations. But they didn't greet Emily, they just glared at her. Emily looked tense. "What's going on?"

"Nothing that concerns you." Snapped Duck. He angrily whished steam at Emily, and he puffed out of the station in a huff. Emily was confused as to the engines hostility. "Alright, what the bloody hell is going on?" she demanded.

"Well, I hope you're proud of yourself." James scowled at Emily.

"What?" she wondered.

"Thanks to your possessive new beaux, Henry is more broken up than ever. You make me sick." James seethed.

"Hey it's not my fault that Diesel ripped into him." Emily defended herself.

"Oh yeah? Whose fault is it then?" Responded Thomas. "It was you who ended things with Henry, wasn't it?" Emily struggled for an answer.

"And wasn't it you that jumped into the shed with Diesel almost a week afterwards?" James put in.

"Now that's not fair!" Emily retorted. "I didn't _jump into the shed_ with Diesel. We were friends for a long time."

"Friends? Ha!" said James. "That's a laugh." James chortled mockingly.

"I don't know whose fault it is." Percy added. "But what I do know is that Henry is hurting bad and in need of some company."

"Young Percy is right." Boomed Gordon. "Henry is in a dark place at the moment and needs someone to pull him out." The others agreed.

"Perhaps I should go and talk with him since you all seem to agree that it is entirely my fault." Emily volunteered, although she knew that she didn't have a choice.

"And so you should." Said James. "Go and straighten things out before Henry gets any more miserable." With that parting remark from James, Emily puffed out of the station and headed for Tidmouth sheds. The engines still frowned at her as she disappeared into the distance.

Meanwhile in the dark and gloomy atmosphere of the shed, Henry's spirits sunk low. His driver and fireman had stopped by to see how he was doing. Surprise, surprise, he wasn't doing so well. Henry was watching rerun after rerun of _Monster Garage_ on an old television. The Fat Controller had set it up the television for him. "If only souls and hearts were that easy to rebuild." Henry sighed.

"I could sure use a rebuild of my heart." The driver and fireman made a conscious decision to stick around with Henry; they felt he needed the company. So they headed into town and purchased an extra large keg of beer. They returned to the shed and split the keg with Henry. "We figured you could use a tall one." The fireman laughed, pouring a beer for their long suffering engine. "Thanks guys." Henry chuffed softly. "Though I could do with a straw."

So the three amigos sat in the shed, tossing back beer after beer and gazing at the old television. Just then, the shed doors opened. It was Emily's driver and, indeed, there was Emily. Henry gazed drunkenly at her, he was not to happy to see her. "Uh, Henry?" Emily peeped tensely. "Can I speak to you?"

"What do you want?" Henry growled. "You're not gonna si-si-sick your commie boyfriend on me again, are you?"

"No, please hear me out." Emily sighed heavily. "Look, I came here to apologise for Diesel's actions earlier. You shouldn't have deserved it." Emily was most sincere.

"Also I want apologise for everything that has happened. I never really meant to hurt you, Henry. I meant what I said that I still want to be friends with you." Henry appeared indignant but Emily continued. "Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?"

Henry gazed angrily back at her. Something about the beer brought out the deep seated rage within him. "Forgive you? _Forgive you?_" Henry laughed bitterly, he slurred his words. "Youse know wha you can d-d-d-do with your apology? Youse can take it that apology… and ssssssshove it up y-your firebox! All up your firebox. I couldn't give a shit!" Emily gasped.

"Henry! Please don't act like this! I'm trying to-"

"I dun wanna hear another God d-damn word of it. As f-f-far as I'm concerned, you're dead to me." Henry bellowed.

Emily couldn't believe what she was hearing. "But Henry!"

"DDDEEEEAAAADDD TTTTOOOO MMMMMEEEEEE! Get the ffffffuck out of my face, bitch! I'm done with you." Henry's driver and fireman slammed the doors shut right in Emily's face. She started to cry and she raced over the turntable with tears streaking down her cheeks. As heartless as Henry's tirade was, it was justified by his accounts. Although, we all say things under alcohol that we think are justified. In Henry's case, it was a matter of venting those hurt feelings gnawing at him.

Early next day, the Island had woken up to a solemn mood. News of Henry's drunken tongue-lashing had spread quickly through the grapevine. The engines didn't want to stir up any controversy, so they stayed quiet. Well, most of them did. Percy was filling up on water before taking the mail train when Thomas steamed up beside him. He appeared to having something serious on his mind. "I've been thinking, Percy." Thomas said.

"What about?" answered Percy.

"Gordon said something about pulling Henry out of his dark place the other day and it's given me an idea."

"Oh?" Percy wondered.

"_We_ could be the ones to bring Henry out of his depression." Thomas smiled.

"Really?" Percy asked innocently, "How do we do that?"

"It's simple." Continued Thomas. "This whole thing started because Emily broke up with Henry, right?"

"Right."

"And Henry is unhappy because he is feeling lonely and empty inside, right?"

"Er, right." Percy didn't see where this was going.

"So, what I thought that we should do is play _match maker _and set Henry up with someone, what do you think?" Thomas beamed. Percy thought about this, it took him a while to process the idea. "Thomas." He finally said, "That's brilliant!"

"Elementary, my dear Watson." Thomas laughed smugly.

"Whose Watson?" asked Percy in a state of confusion.

"Never mind." Thomas grunted in frustration, "Just follow my lead." Thomas puffed quickly away with Percy in hot pursuit. "What about my mail train?" he called out to his friend.

"Don't worry. I asked the Fat Controller to let Whiff take care of that."

"Whiff?" Percy gasped. "But he's smelly."

"You're smelly too sometimes." Laughed Thomas.

"I'm not smelly!" Said Percy indignantly, "Get bent!"

Thomas and Percy arrived at the Centre Island quarry where they spotted Mavis shutting trucks filled with heavy stones. "Do you think this plan of yours will work?" Percy asked anxiously.

"Of course it'll work." Thomas said with confidence. "When have any of my plans ever failed before?" Percy knew the answer to that question. The two engines chuffed forward and peeped to Mavis. "Wassup, dudes." She happily tooted back. Thomas explained to Mavis the terrible state that Henry was in and their idea of setting him up with another engine. Mavis understood the little engines plan but wasn't so sure. "So, anyways." Thomas rattled on, "Me and the green caterpillar here were thinking if you would be interested in, you know, going out with Henry and-"

"Whoa, time out!" Mavis cut him off. "Are you dudes serious, man?" She was stunned.

"Yeah, _man_. We are." Thomas responded. Percy grinned widely.

"Dude, seriously. Henry is cool and all, but I don't really think of him that way." Thomas and Percy's faces fell in disappointment. "Besides, you know I have a thing for Toby."

"But he's like fifty times your age." Said Percy.

"Yeah, I know, dude. But there's something about him that I find… alluring. You know what I'm saying, eh?" Mavis chirped. The engines never understood Mavis' grunge rock lingo.

"Frankly, I don't." said Thomas blankly.

"Well, don't worry, Sherlock. You'll understand in time, eh." With a goodbye toot of her horn, Mavis went back to work. "Later, dudes." Thomas and Percy felt dejected. Their first attempt at matchmaking didn't go like they had planned.

"Now what, cupid?" snapped Percy.

"Well, we'll just have to move onto the next eligible bachelorette." Thomas huffed and steamed along the track, his compatriot following in his wake. Eventually, they came up to Daisy, the self-absorbed diesel rail car. She sat alone in her shed; her driver was busily applying her makeup. Thomas and Percy never really got along with Daisy. She can be best described as being a stuck-up bitch. Upon her arrival on the Island, Daisy made it clear that she would never, never pull. To quote her, she was "highly strung and pulling was bad for her swerves." Despite their hostility and general hatred towards her, Thomas and Percy knew they were doing this for Henry. With all his courage, Thomas cleared his throat and spoke. "Hey, uh, Daisy."

"What the hell do you want?" Daisy scowled at Thomas.

"Err, look Daisy. I know we haven't gotten along over the years, what with you being an egotistical, self-absorbed, self-deluded-"

"What are you babbling on about?" Daisy snapped. "I'm busy."

"Anyway." Thomas grunted. "Percy and I have been trying to set Henry up with a date with someone because he has been depressed as of late and we wanted to ask if you would be interested in going out with him." Daisy stared at Thomas in stunned silence. She couldn't believe what he had asked her. The silence was broken when burst out into laughter. Thomas and Percy stared at each other in confusion. "You've got to be kidding!" Daisy laughed.

"Set me up on a date with that over-sensitive hypochondriac? Ha, I don't think so." Daisy laughed again.

"And why not? Henry's a decent engine; any female engine would love to go out with him." Thomas retorted furiously.

"Please, you think I'd be caught dead with that loser?" Daisy huffed. "I have a reputation to uphold on this Island. I'm highly strung and-"

"Pulling Henry would be bad for your swerves." Percy angrily sighed. Thomas and Daisy were horrified at Percy's unknowingly perverse comment.

"EWWWWWW!" Thomas and Daisy cried out in unison. Percy looked confused.

"What?" he asked. Thomas whispered to Percy at what he had said. Percy was taken aback, he blushed with embarrassment.

"As I was saying, little engine." Daisy continued. "Henry is _way_ out of my league and I wouldn't date that sulking hunk of Iron even if you chloroformed me." Thomas and Percy glared at her. "Now, piss off!" The two engines stormed out of Daisy's shed as her driver shook his head in dismay. Percy sighed with frustration. "Well, that was a waste of time." He sulked.

"Calm your super heater, my friend." Thomas comforted his friend. "Going to her was a mistake to begin with anyway."

"Damn straight." Percy concurred. "Onto the next edible bachel, uh, bachia, uhhh, single engine, then?"

"It's eligible bachelorette, and yes we shall." Thomas corrected him.

"Shall we ask Rosie if she wants to go out with Henry?" Percy asked.

"Are you nuts?" Thomas groaned. "Henry is old enough to be Rosie's father. More to the point, you know she's had a crush on me ever since she came to this Island."

"Oh yeah." Percy remembered. "But wait a minute? If Henry's old enough to be Rosie's dad, does that mean I'm young enough to his son?"

"You're old enough to be an idiot." Thomas said exasperated.

"I'm not an idiot!" Percy snapped. "Bite me!"

The day was drawing to a close and back at Tidmouth sheds, Henry sat in darkness. The drinking session with his crew didn't make him feel any better. He still felt depressed and he had a hangover that would kill an Antonov cargo plane. His eyes were bloodshot from crying and his boiler was encrusted with filth. Henry watched old TV shows on the crapped out television. The old thing kept going static, Henry would have tried to bang it back to life but he had no arms to bang it with. Just then, His driver and fireman stopped by the shed. They too had monster hangovers and were trying to cure themselves by drinking orange juice. "I take it you're not at all feeling in good spirits." His fireman mused, gulping down his OJ.

"Quite the opposite." Henry sullenly stated. "That drinking party of ours only enhanced my pain, not ease it." Henry was right. Despite his memory being hazy, Henry remembered how badly he scolded Emily, especially when he said that he didn't want anything to do with her. "This shed isn't aiding my situation any good at all; I need to get out of this place." The driver and fireman agreed in harmony, slamming down their drinks and tossing their empty glasses on the ground. Henry's fire was lit up and he slowly built up steam. "Where do you want to go?" his driver asked.

"You know where to go." Henry answered.

"The special place?"

"Bingo." Henry sniffed. His driver pulled back on the throttle and Henry surged forward onto the turntable. Where they were headed was a mystery. In the meantime, Thomas and Percy were still trying to find an eligible bachelorette. They were running out of ideas… and steam. Thomas and Percy were not having much success in playing match maker. They tried asking Pip and Emma if either one would be interested in dating Henry. Emma told the two little cupid engines that she was already dating Bear. She admitted that his deep, growling engine noise reminded her of Barry White. Pip, on the other hand, was apparently seeing BoCo and the two had recently moved in together. Thomas then tried to contact Duchess of Hamilton at the National Railway Museum. But she was unavailable due to historical run commitments. The two engines contemplated asking Lady, but they realized that she would be young enough to be his daughter. Ergo, they skipped her. Thomas and Percy then thought outside the box and tried other non-railway folk on the Island. Caroline the aging car appeared too senile to comprehend what they were asking. Isabel the auto coach was "attached" to Oliver. Old Slowcoach told that she was comfortable living out her remaining years as a spinster. Isobella was only interested in road vehicles and Madge was an admitted lesbian.

At last, Thomas gave into frustration. "Why does this Island have to be such a sausage fest?" Thomas shouted at the top of his boiler, attracting the attention of just about everyone.

"What's a sausage fest?" Percy asked, as innocent as ever. Thomas was about to answer when he said, "I'll tell you when you're older." He then stormed off, Percy chased after him.

"No wait. What does that mean?" Percy cried out.

"Oh ok. It means-"

Moving right along, Thomas and Percy had finally reached Elizabeth, the final "contestant". Like everyone else on the Island; Elizabeth had shown sympathy towards Henry. But like everyone else before, she was reluctant to date the melancholy green engine. "I'm a Lorry. He's a steam engine. You do the math."

"But I don't like math." Percy whimpered.

"Fucking hell." Thomas impatiently muttered, not under his own breath.

"He's a nice boy but things would just be too weird." Elizabeth continued. "I really feel for Henry, really I do. But I just don't think of him that way."

"Oh, we understand." Percy sighed, looking towards the ground.

"I'm sorry, boys." Said Elizabeth remorsefully, she then drove away to Jem Cole's farm. The day was at an end and the cupid engines had miserably failed. "What do we do now?" asked Percy, he didn't know what else to do. And neither did Thomas.

"Nothing." Thomas answered gloomily.

"So, we failed?" Percy posed the question.

"I'm afraid so." The gravity of the situation had snuck in on Thomas.

"And Henry is going to be lonely forever?" Percy made a grim assessment.

"Oh yeah." Thomas heaved a sigh. Percy thought about this and started to cry.

"Henry's going to be lonely forever." He wailed; tears trickled down his chubby cheeks. Thomas tried to comfort his little green friend. "There there, Percy." Thomas said, he was mentally exhausted. "We tried our best, but obviously the odds were against us." Percy sniffed heavily.

"Come on, let's go home." With a sad peep peep, they chuffed home to Tidmouth sheds, defeated and none too happy. The sun had finally set when they arrived at the sheds, the other engines were agitated. Thomas saw that Henry's berth was empty. He rushed over the turntable in amazement. "Where is Henry?" he asked in panic.

"We don't know." Answered Gordon.

"Last time I saw him, he was still here." Added James.

"We don't know where he could have gone." Edward chuffed sadly. Thomas was baffled at Henry's sudden disappearance and then he remembered the tragic story of Molly. Suddenly he thought the worst, "Oh no!" he gasped.

"Percy, we've gotta find Henry, now! Something could have happened to him." The two immediately set off to find their melancholy friend. The other engines would have helped but their respective crews were occupied with other business, they had all gone down to the pub. Thomas and Percy searched high and low all over Sodor. Percy checked the China Clay railway. Thomas checked Crovan's Gate and asked the Narrow Gauge engines if they had seen Henry. Unfortunately, none of them did. Percy searched Wellsworth station and its adjoining sidings while Thomas sped along the mainline to Maron station. Almost everywhere they looked; Thomas and Percy couldn't find Henry. They regrouped at Kirk Ronan station, they were beyond exhausted but they knew they couldn't rest until they could find their friend. For all they knew, Henry was probably suicidal and looking to end it all. "We've looked everywhere." Percy panted.

"Not everywhere." Thomas wheezed. "Now come on. Think, THINK! Where could he have gone? Use that brain of yours, Percy!" Percy shut his eyes and concentrated, trying to come up with the answer. It then struck him like a wrecking ball. "I've got it, the forest!" he shouted.

"Of course!" Thomas concurred. "It's his most favourite place on the Island. Come on!" Thomas urged, screaming off into the night. Percy followed panting heavily.

"You know something, Percy? You're not that much of a dildo after all." Thomas laughed.

"I'm not a dildo!" Percy grunted. "Kiss my bunker!"

Sure enough, the two exhausted engines reached the forest. They slowed down as to keep an eye out for their friend. Thomas called out "Henry? Henry?" as loud as he could. At first, all he could hear was the owls chirping away. "HENRY?" he shouted again until his throat was hoarse. "I'm over here." A voice answered from a siding. Thomas and Percy were ecstatic, they had found Henry! They rushed to find him sitting alone on an empty siding staring up at the moon. The two little engines gasped for air as they pulled up. "Oh thank God we found you." Thomas wheezed. "We thought you had done yourself in." Percy gasped heavily.

"Done myself in?" Henry wondered. "No, I just needed to get out of that dirty old shed. So I came down here to clear my head." Thomas and Percy smiled.

"Well, thank God you are alright." Percy chuffed. Henry smiled back and looked back up to the moon. "You know, I've always like this place." Said Henry. "I feel more at peace with myself here than pulling coaches and trucks and dealing with the everyday bullshit that comes by. There's something about this place that makes me feel… happy."

"We were playing match maker today." Percy peeped proudly.

"Match maker?" Henry asked. "For whom?"

"For you, Henry." Thomas answered, Henry was surprised. "We just couldn't stand the thought of you being in pain all the time. So, we decided to set you up with someone. We're sorry but, there were no offers." Thomas looked discouraged.

"Oh, that's ok, guys. I appreciate your efforts." Said Henry. "But it didn't really matter."

The three engines smiled at each other and stared up at the moon for a while. They watched as the clouds rolled gently across the sky. "You know, James told me about how he came out of the closet earlier." Henry spoke up. "He said that he had been confused and scared about his own sexuality and how it would affect his personal life. I've been going through the same thing as of late, I've been struggling to cope with who I am and my decisions in life." The two little engines listened hard.

"Since this break up with Emily." Henry continued. "I've been in a dark place. Something that I thought I couldn't find my way out of but after much reflection, I came to the realization that I've been living a lie. This hypochondriac personality of mine doesn't suit me at all. It's not me. I never liked being the butt of everyone's jokes, being put down because of niggling problems. It's bullshit, come to think of it! So I've decided to make a change. I'm not going to let crazy stuff like this get to me anymore. I'm going to fight through the pain and work it out like a true engine. Out goes to old hippie, hypochondriac Henry and in with the new tougher, stronger, faster Henry. I'm back with a vengeance." Henry smiled the biggest smile he could muster.

"Yeah, Henry's back." Thomas and Percy happily cried in unison and cheered with a series of "peep peeps."

"Come on, big guy. Let's go home." Thomas chuffed. The three engines soon steamed back home, none of them stopped smiling. "Does this mean that you don't like the forest anymore?" Percy asked.

"I never said that. I still like the forest, but not in a tree-hugger sort of way." Henry explained. "Do you understand?"

"No." Percy whished, he was baffled. Henry just laughed as the trio of friends rumbled towards Tidmouth. Meanwhile, back in the sheds, the other engines were getting increasingly worried. They had wondered whether something wrong had happened to Henry, though none of them wanted to actually admit that. In the distance, they heard a faint whistle. Their faces all lit up with joy when they realized who it was. "It's Henry!" shouted Edward. The engines finally saw Henry, Percy and Thomas steaming towards the shed. The other engines cheered and all talked simultaneously as Henry rolled gently onto the turntable. They were all excited to see their friend come back. "Simmer down, simmer down." Henry called to them and the other engines calmed down.

"Henry, old chap, we were so worried about you." Gordon chuffed.

"But not too worried as to not go out and look for me?" Henry retorted.

"Actually, our drivers went down to the pub. They haven't come back yet." James explained.

"I see." Henry raised his eyebrow.

"Where did you go?" asked Emily.

"Oh, somewhere special, you know." Henry answered. "Just to clear my smoke box of all the craziness of the past few days. I've been thinking a lot about what's happened. There were a lot of things that have been gnawing me, some things that I've regretted saying while others have been about my own soul. Now that I've had time to contemplate about them, I have a few things I want to get off my boiler. Here goes." Henry cleared his throat and looked over to Emily.

"Emily." he started as Emily held her breath in anticipation. "I forgive you. And I'm sorry for the way I acted to you the other day. It was totally uncalled for and you shouldn't have deserved that outburst I gave you. I hope you can forgive me for that."

Emily was so happy that she cried a little. "I do, Henry, and thank you."

"Awwww, that's so sweet." Said Percy, he started to cry a little too.

"And you all should apologize to Emily too." Henry spoke to the others. "Lord knows how bad she has suffered from being ostracized by everyone." All the other engines agreed and apologized to Emily. Henry breathed heavily and spoke up again.

"Now that that's taken care of, I have another thing to say. Despite what has happened to me, I came to the decision that I'm not going to let it get to me. In fact, I believe it has made me stronger because of it."

"Well put, Henry, well put." A prideful Gordon acknowledged. Henry continued as the turntable spun him around and he slowly backed into his berth. "Also, you won't have to worry about me being so hypochondriac-like and self-hating anymore. That Henry is long gone. Say hello to the new, improved Henry. Faster, stronger, smarter." The engines cheered for Henry, they were all proud to know that this ordeal was over.

"It's good to have you back, Henry." Gordon chuffed happily.

"Thanks. There's just one more thing I have to say to you, Gordon."

"What is it?" Gordon asked. All of a sudden, Henry's cheerful disposition quickly shifted, much to the alarm of the others.

"Where the fuck do you get off saying that I'm a self-loather?" Henry barked angrily.

"Well, I, errrr…" Gordon stammered as Henry ripped into him some more. Thomas just grinned; he glanced over to Percy who did the same. They realized that Henry didn't need help getting out of his dark place. The only engine that could help Henry out was himself alone. Henry didn't need angels or cupids to help him out, but he did need friends. And that's all that mattered.


	2. Chapter 2: Medusa and Tenders

**Chapter 2: Medusa and Tenders (The Story of Karen the Living Dead Engine)**

A new day dawned on the Island of Sodor, Henry was at the wash down tower getting a much needed clean. His crew scrubbed hard cleaning off of the gunk and filth that had accumulated on his boiler. Henry had spent so much time in the shed that spiders weaved their webs in his cab. Some even laid their eggs. The Fat Controller stopped by to see how he was doing. "Ah, good morning Henry." He greeted. "How are you feeling, old boy?"

"A lot better, thank you." Henry answered cheerfully. "I'm still trying to patch things up but I can work through them."

"Excellent, excellent." The Fat Controller beamed proudly. "It's good to see you're ready to return to active duty."

"Oh, I am, sir. Ready and raring to go, sir." Said Henry as his driver rinsed him off.

"Very good." The Fat Controller smiled. "I've got an important job for you. There is a new engine that has just arrived on Sodor. I want you to go to Wellsworth station and show the newbie the ropes." Henry grunted and rolled his eyes.

"Oh no, not another new engine."

"Now Henry, don't argue. With the increase of tourism to the Island and a shortage of engines, I've had to look to other railways for engines to purchase. That's why there has been so many new engines arriving on Sodor as of late."

"I understand that, sir, but how can you afford to buy these new engines? You must be in the red by now." Henry wondered.

"Don't you worry about the Island's financial situation, Henry. As long as you do your job right, this railway will never go bankrupt." The Fat Controller's reassuring words soothed Henry's disposition. As soon as his driver and fireman finished cleaning him up, Henry was ready to go. "Now, off you go, Henry. And be the best damn engine you can be." The Fat Controller finished proudly.

"As you wish, sir, and thank you." Henry tooted cheerfully and he slowly puffed away. As Henry steamed along the track, he was greeted by every engine he passed by. They were all glad to see him back, apart from Diesel who tried to stare Henry down. Yet he returned Diesel's evil glare while his crew gladly gave him the finger. At Wellsworth, Henry saw the new engine waiting patiently at the platform. The engine was a Black Five 4-6-0, just like Henry. It had glossy black paint work with fiery red trim. The engine was clearly female as it wore black lipstick and eye makeup. Henry was surprised to see such an engine. "Are you the new engine?" he asked cautiously.

"Yeah hi, I'm Karen, Karen the Goth engine. Also known as the Living Dead engine."

Henry was a little confused and a little intimidated by the engine's gloomy response, but decided to make nice. "Very nice to meet. I'm Henry the, uh, the Green engine." He smiled at her yet Karen looked blasé. "I've been assigned to show you around the Island; it should be loads of fun."

"Yippee." Karen clearly sounded unenthusiastic. After making a quick turn-around, Henry led Karen to all the focal points of the Island. They chuffed side by side, creating such a stir amongst the community. They had never seen an engine like Karen before. Henry took Karen everywhere around the Island: Brendam Docks, Abbey Station, Tidmouth sheds, Knapford station and the Arlesdale Railway where the miniature engines roamed. The last stop was Crovan's Gate station, the major station for both the North Western Railway and the Skarloey Railway. Henry gladly introduced Karen to Rheneas who had stopped with his passenger train. Karen seemed a little distant which offended Rheneas slightly. As the two Black Fives powered away, Rheneas mused about the new engine.

"She and Duncan would probably get along; they are both rather rude engines." Rheneas huffed to himself. The day was coming to an end; Karen was feeling rather tired and wanted to get some sleep. Their wasn't any room at Tidmouth sheds for Karen, but the Fat Controller told her about an old abandoned shed along a pair of disused tracks near Knapford. Karen didn't mind that the shed was old, she thought it was cool. Throughout the day, Henry tried to be as friendly and warm as he could be, yet Karen seemed to be quite the opposite, rather cold and detached. Henry wasn't impressed with her attitude and thought she was rather rude. He wasn't sure whether she would fit in to the bright and sunny atmosphere of Sodor. Then he remembered that not all new engines that arrived on the Island were greeted with open arms and friendly hellos. Yet they would eventually fit in at the end but not before proving themselves. Still, with this new Goth engine acting so strangely, Henry thought she wouldn't survive. She hardly even spoke throughout the tour. That wasn't until they were close to her new shed when…

"So Henry, I see that you're a Black Five like me." Karen broke her silence.

"Yes, that is correct." Henry answered.

"So that kinda makes us family, right?" said Karen.

"I guess so. You don't talk that much, do you?" Henry asked.

"Nope, is that a problem?" She smirked.

"It is, if you want to be friendly in this place." Henry shuddered and thought; _this really isn't true, but she really isn't going to get anywhere with that attitude. Still, don't be a dick. You can't choose family._

"Hello, Earth to Henry." Karen called out, breaking his train of thought.

"What? Oh, sorry about that. So, uh, were you built at Crewe Works?"

"Nah, a bunch of wacko historians actually built me. I was given birth at Crewe, cannibalized from other dead engines to create me. Hence, _Living Dead Engine_." Henry was not impressed.

"I'm kidding." Karen laughed. Henry still didn't understand.

"Sorry, I just don't hear that kind of humour too often, especially from a youngling like you."

"Yeah, well, when you're a Goth like me, your sense of humour can take a strange turn towards the macabre." This made Henry feel somewhat perplexed. Engines never really thought of themselves as belonging to any type of human-made subculture; the idea of cliques or tribes based upon what you wore or what music you listened to. Oh sure, they understood friendship groups and "culture"; Alicia Botti, the painter that came to Sodor, the Sodor Brass Band and all that, but never took part in it. They were content with the sort of lives they were built for. Besides, you need hands to do anything creative, something which the engines clearly lacked.

"Why did you become a Goth in the first place?" Henry asked.

"To be in touch with my inner pain." Karen laughed.

"What a nonsensical idea." Henry scoffed. He_ knew_ inner AND outer pain. The idea of being "in touch" with your inner pain seemed perverse.

"That was a joke too." Karen replied in a rather deadpan manner.

"Well there has to be a reason why you chose to become a Goth in the first place." Henry urged for answers. He seemed to be getting curious in this bizarre new culture, even if he did think it was bogus.

"Well, I've always been interested in human subcultures, particularly the Goth subculture. Ever since I was built in the early '80s as a replica, my fitter told me about the world that we lived in. I became fascinated in human subcultures. I wanted to learn about them. I even wanted to immerse myself into the culture. So, I decided to become a Goth and liked I've it ever since." Henry didn't believe that for an instant.

"But you're an engine, and engines don't immerse themselves in human cultures. It's a bit beyond us as machines." Henry chuffed.

"There's nothing wrong about learning a new facet of people's cultures." Karen chuffed.

"I know, but tell me this, have you ever been worked?" Henry asked in a strict tone.

"I've been worked over." Karen sniggered.

"That's not what I meant." Henry growled.

"I know what you meant. You're saying that I'm too _childish_ and look as if I've never worked a day in my life. I've pulled trains before, long trains, heavy trains. I know what it means to work." Henry was getting tired of his sis already.

"No, I saying that an attitude like yours, for all your teenagey cynicism, your really a bit naïve and-"

"Naïve? Ha!" Karen laughed.

Henry rolled his eyes and thought to himself, _God I wish Edward was here, he'd know how to talk to her._

By time they had reached the old shed, Henry felt a little more uneasy about Karen's mentality and personality. With her attitude, Henry didn't warm to her, not yet anyway. "Well then." Said Henry, "I hope you find your accommodations to your liking." He knew how to joke as well, though not as morbid as Karen.

"Oh, I like it already." Karen answered and steamed onto the turntable. Once the turntable completed its cycle, Karen backed into her engine berth. "Better get some sleep, kid. Work starts early tomorrow, so don't be late." Said Henry sternly, acting more father-like then brother-like.

"I look forward to it." Karen chuckled. Henry tooted goodbye to Karen and started to steam back along the line.

"See you later then, brother." Karen called out.

"Yeah, see you later…" Henry hesitated. "… sister." He soon rolled onto the mainline and steamed back to Tidmouth. _Phew!_ He thought, _maybe now we can see if she's made of sterner stuff then those God awful airs and trappings she puts on._ As he rolled into his berth, the other engines were curious to know anything about the new engine.

"So, Henry, how was your date with that new engine?" Gordon chuckled.

"It wasn't a date, fat arse, and it was fine. The engine was fine. She was fine, I was fine. It was all fine. Fine, fine, fine, fine fi-f-fi-fine, fucking fine! There, you're happy?" Henry huffed.

"Oooohhh come on, you can give us more than that." James wanted to know more.

"Was she friendly?" Thomas asked.

"Does she like to play in the mud?" Percy chuffed.

"Does she have a nice makeup kit?" James lisped.

"I was going to ask her for that!" Snapped Emily.

"Was she built at Crewe Works, like you Henry?" Edward inquired.

"Is she… single?" Gordon asked, raising his eyebrows, hoping against hope.

"ALRIGHT!" Henry exploded. "She is my sister, ok? She was built by Egyptian architects 5000 years ago." His reply was dripping with sarcasm.

"_Oooooooooohhh!_" Percy was in awe.

"She's what those naughty teenagers that spray dirty words on our sheds called Goths. She's very rude, she has a superiority complex, she's thinks she's smarter and worldlier than she really is. She looks down her funnel at everyone else and, yeah, you and she would get along, GORDON! So there, happy now?" Henry was in a boil.

Everyone was taken aback. "Then I take it that the first date didn't go as planned." Gordon chortled again. Henry saw the red mist descend over his eyes.

"YOU… ARSEHOLE!" Henry still had steam in his boiler and whished as hard as he could at Gordon, raising a massive steam cloud and kicking up dust and bugs in Gordon's face. Everyone was dead silent, except for Gordon. "Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear." He frantically muttered to himself. Gordon spat out a live bug as he examined his dirty frame.

"You don't like the new engine then?" Percy chimed. Henry said nothing; he shut his eyes and grunted to sleep.

Morning came on the Island of Sodor; Karen woke up bright and early. She was eager to strut her stuff to the others but she had to wait for her crew to arrive. The birds sang a beautiful chorus that rang through the morning air. "I hate birds." Karen muttered as the chorus became louder and louder. James, on the other hand, loved listening to the bird's song. "Awwww, I love listening to those birds. They're almost as pretty as me." He smiled and continued to listen.

Meanwhile; Karen was getting annoyed by the bird songs. It kept getting louder and louder. "Please, be quiet." Karen muttered to herself. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore.

"SHUT UP!" Karen roared. Her voice echoed across the land. A wave of birds screeched from the tree line and fluttered away. "Where did they go?" Said James sadly. Karen was relieved to see her crew had finally arrived, she was not impressed. "What took you so long?" she demanded. "We stopped to get some coffee." Her driver said.

"We even got you one." He added, pointing down the line. At that moment, Salty arrived pushing a large tanker truck filled to capacity with coffee. "Thar you go." Salty said full of delight. "One extra large café latte, bubbling hot and packed with caffeine."

"Yeah, thank you, Cap'n Ahab. I'll call you again when I need to fight a white whale." Karen remarked sarcastically. Salty should have been hurt, but he took that rather insensitive remark as a complement. _Moby Dick, my favourite book._ He thought, as he shunted away. Karen's fireman attached a hose to the truck outlet attachment and then he graciously placed the other end into her mouth. Her driver warned not to drink the coffee to fast. "Now, be careful when you drink that, it is extremely-" Within seconds, Karen had sucked the tanker truck dry.

"-hot." He finished. He was very much amazed. Karen perked up right away and was more itching to get a move on. Soon, Karen was fired up and steaming down the line. Her first job on her new home was taking a passenger service to Barrow-in-Furness. As she traveled through the picturesque sea-side towns and sweeping countryside, everyone paused to admire Karen for all it's worth. They could tell that she was powerful and had a fire in her that would have matched any engine on Sodor. It's too bad they didn't know about her personality and demeanour, otherwise their opinions would have changed in a moments notice. Karen eventually arrived at Knapford, ready to take her first train. She backed into her station and coupled up. The passengers admired the new engine, having never seen such a large female engine like Karen before. One black-haired passenger wearing a pair of glasses gave her the devil horns in appreciation. Soon the passengers boarded the train and they were ready to set off, except for one detail. "Hey, maestro. Play me some traveling music." Karen said to her driver.

"As you wish." He answered. He took out a battery-powered CD player from a compartment underneath the driver's seat and placed it on top of it. He then plugged it into the intercom system that ran through the carriages. He took out a CD and placed into the CD player and pushed play. The violent sounds of Dimmu Borgir flooded the carriages. All the passengers were alarmed; they held their eyes due to the shear ferocity of the death metal music. Karen was none too affected by the violent death metal; she loved this type of music. The passengers all stepped out of the carriages and argued with Karen. "Excuse me, young engine." One passenger called to her over the metal music. "But could you turn that racket off please, you're scaring my daughter."

"What? Why?" Karen protested. "It's _Progenies of the Great Apocalypse_, it's a classic tune." The passengers were not impressed.

"I don't care if that song was on the Top 40 charts, you can't play that sort of thing with children aboard the train!" The other passengers agreed and talked angrily at once. The ruckus attracted the attentions of The Fat Controller. "What's all this nonsense?" he asked as calmly as possible. The passengers all talked at once at what a disobedient engine Karen was. She merely scoffed and didn't care what they thought. The Fat Controller spoke firmly to Karen. "Now listen, Karen. I'm all open for engines to listen to whatever type of music they want, in fact, it's something that I encourage. But when I have passengers complaining of the sort of… darkly laced death rock such as this, I have to put my foot down. Now, would you kindly please turn that music off and get back to work." Karen still didn't want to hear another word of it. She was acting like a spoilt teen then anything else.

"Not tae mention it's a shite song." Donald chimed in from the next platform, who was a noted devotee of the classics. This riled up Karen even more.

"Hey, I'm entitled to listen to what I want. If they don't like the tunes, then they take the bus!" she yelled at the passengers and the Fat Controller. She briefly looked proud with herself. A few hours later, Thomas came across Bertie the bus, he was full of passengers. "Hey Thom-Thom. I should thank Henry's sister on your behalf. She just increased my workload."

"I beg you pardon?" Thomas asked, cocking his eyebrow.

"Thanks to her outburst at the station, the passengers didn't want to take her service so the Fat Controller called on me to take over. Brilliant, I say! We should have another race sometime, cheerio." And Bertie sped away. Thomas was left stunned and enraged. "Not a very good start on her first day, I say." He griped. "Henry's not going to be happy about this." Thomas returned to the yard where he found Karen pulling a train of tar wagons. She clearly was not happy about it. "Serves you right." He sneered at her.

"Eat shit." Karen bit back, steaming past Thomas.

Karen's insolent behaviour on her first day wasn't just isolated towards the passengers, but also towards the trucks as well. Her next appointed task was to take some empty trucks to the Sodor China Clay Railway. The troublesome trucks had overheard that the new engine had arrived on Sodor. Naturally, they conspired amongst each other to make life miserable for the newbie. All they knew about the new engine was that it was female and "not very nice" as Thomas put it so delicately. When they saw it the new engine backing into the yard, they immediately exploded into mock cheers and wolf whistles. "Check it out, boys. The fresh meat has arrived." One truck chuckled.

"Oh yeah, baby. That's right, back that arse right up." Another perverse truck licked its lips. When they saw that it was Karen, the trucks were surprised. "Dude, the newbie is weirdo." One truck mocked her.

"Yeah, what's with the makeup? Did Sir Fatham Fatt spring her from the circus or something?" Karen's anger was growing with each insult. The trucks laughed at her as she arranged them up into one long train. Finally, one truck crossed the line. "Hey, sweetheart. What dark part of hell did you spring from?" An inner storm erupted in Karen's funnel.

"You're mother's arse!" she thundered. And with a mighty biff, she slammed several trucks into a siding, crushing them against a signal box! Splinters of wood and pieces of twisted steel flew everywhere. The trucks moaned in pain while Karen, despite herself, smiled evilly. Needless to say, her retribution was swift but the Fat Controller's retribution was swifter. He ordered her to clear away the destroyed trucks and take the remaining ones to the China Clay line. It seemed that Karen wasn't in Sir Topham Hatt's good graces and it wasn't going to get any better. A few days had passed since Karen's arrival on the Island and she was eventually allowed to run her passenger service again under the strict condition that her death metal music must not be played. She was somewhat grateful that she was able to pull passengers again but mad that her beloved death metal was given the boot. One day, Karen stopped at Wellsworth to pick up more passengers. Just then, Rosie showed up with her passenger service. Rosie had been overjoyed every since the Fat Controller gave two special coaches for performing so well Thomas' branch line. The coaches were named Jill and Valentine. They were two wise old coaches that had restored and repainted red and pink to match Rosie's paint scheme. Rosie had yet to meet Karen and had no knowledge of her dark and broody behaviour. "Hi there, I'm Rosie. You must be Karen." She said sweetly.

"Yes, that would be me. What's it to you, kid?" Karen answered, her hostility was bleeding out like a deep gash wound.

"Well, everyone's been talking about you and I've been dying to meet you. We don't get many girl engines on Sodor." Rosie smiled.

"So I've noticed." Karen sniffed. "Tell me, why is this Island such a Goddamn sausage festival?" Rosie looked confused.

"Sausage festival?" Rosie wondered.

"Never mind." Karen sighed angrily. "Look, kid, I don't have time for this. My passengers are pissed off with me for playing my fucking metal music too loud, the Fat Controller is riding me for breaking his precious trucks into a million fucking pieces and my brother Henry is giving me shit for taking aboard the mannerisms and ideals of a human culture that I happen to like and enjoy being apart of! I'm stressed to the fucking limit with intolerant engines that don't get me, people that are stuck in a Goddamn time warp here and, worst of all, my makeup keeps getting ruined after each run!" Karen panted heavily.

"Maybe you're grumpy because you're lonely and have no friends. Do you want to be friends?" Rosie, despite Karen's long winded outburst, was still putting on a sweet disposition.

"Sorry, kid. I don't hang out with people who rate pink as their favourite colour." Karen sneered. Rosie's lips trembled; she was never insulted like that. With a solemn toot, she scurried away. Her coaches were most offended. "How rude." Jill fumed.

"Quite so. And such vulgar language." Valentine added.

"Indeed. A plain speaking engine would never use such foul language like that." Jill concurred. Rosie was deeply upset; she didn't understand why Karen was so mean and cold to her. _I just wanted to be her friend because I don't have many friends myself._ She thought to herself. Rosie told Thomas all about Karen's dark little diatribe and he in turn told Henry who was none too pleased. He knew if Karen kept antagonizing everyone she came across, she would have no one to call her friend… or sibling.

As time went on, Karen slowly adjusted to life on Sodor. But that didn't mean her demeanour improved, not one iota. During the day light runs, she pulled long express coaches and trucks effectively. She was still angry that she couldn't listen to her music loud and the trucks still teased her for no reason. At nights, she worked on Henry's flagship train, the _Flying Kipper_. She worked well but she didn't like the smell (but who didn't) and seemed to give her brother shit every time she came back for a wash down. That was what happened during one wash down late one night in June. Karen was complaining to Henry of yet another night of bad smells and makeup that was ruined during high speed runs.

"I don't know how you do it!" She said to him one night. "The air is terrible and that long run ruins my makeup."

"Then don't wear makeup on the job then." Snapped Henry.

"What? Are you kidding? I'd look weird without my makeup." Karen shrieked indignantly.

"No weirder than anyone else. Just try it, for once." Henry asked nicely, trying to conceal his hostility. Karen gave a deep sigh. She didn't want to let her big brother down.

"Oh, very well. But I'm only doing this for you, big bro." Her fireman sprayed her face with a hose, her makeup oozed off her face like a river. Once that was done, the wash down revealed that Karen had a pretty face. In fact, her face looked a lot like Molly.

"There, now that wasn't so bad. You look better without the makeup." Henry smirked.

"I feel so naked." Karen murmured darkly.

"Afraid of a little hard work, eh sweetheart?" Gordon chuckled from his berth.

"Fuck off, you pompous windbag!" Karen thundered. Gordon was shocked.

"Pompous windbag? Now look here!" Gordon was deeply offended.

"She's got you there, Geordie." Said Henry. "However vulgar it may be."

"I don't care who she is, she does not get to insult me, ME, the most important engine on this bloody railway." Gordon boasted, his pride was flashing like a neon sign.

"But James and I insult you all the time." Henry retorted.

"Yes, but I'm used it. And besides, I know I'm better than any of you." Gordon boasting was getting worse.

"Apart from Spencer who beat you in an all round speed test." James cackled.

"And Thomas who slaughtered you with a jet engine." Henry added.

"Those don't even count!" Gordon thundered.

"Don't they, Gordon? Don't they?" James peeped. Karen was enjoying this beat down immensely and wanted to join in the fun.

"Don't you need a license to be that pompous?" Karen called out. Gordon's face turned a nasty shade of red, he was furious. He gnashed his teeth and grumbled madly. The other engines burst out laughing, but Henry remained stern towards his younger sibling.

"Now now, leave the insults to me." He advised her.

"Awwww, why do you guys have to have all the fun?" Karen whined.

"Because you're new here. Now off to bed with you." Said Henry, acting like her father. He tooted her goodnight and steamed to his berth. Karen chuffed away a little disappointed. She wanted to rip into Gordon so much, that it made her Walschaerts valve gear tense up. But like any rebellious teenager, she was sent off before doing anymore damage.

The next morning, Karen was charged with taking lumber to the transfer yards at Crovan's Gate. It was here where she met up with the rest of the narrow gauge engines. Rheneas had told the others about Karen's rudeness the first time he met her. They didn't really believe him and wanted to see her for themselves. Rusty was put in charge of taking the lumber that Karen had transported. He greeted her with his trademark two-tone horn. "Whoa! Nice toot, man. Do you use that ward off evil spirits or something? 'Cause it is working!" Karen chuckled. Rusty was hurt. "No." He sniffed. "I like my unique sounding horn; Thomas thinks it is rather 'tuneful'." Skarloey had overheard this and steamed over to Rusty's defense.

"Excuse me, young Black Five. I would urge you to apologize to young Rusty here. He takes great pride in his fancy new horn and we all believe it to be 'tuneful' as well."

"And just who are you to make me, little red engine?" Karen scoffed arrogantly.

"My name is Skarloey, the second most senior engine in this railway." He answered sternly. Karen snickered.

"I'm sorry, did you say Scarlet? Isn't that a girl's name?" Karen chuckled to herself while Skarloey fumed.

"Well, I never." He chuffed.

"See? I told you she was rude and insolent. Why doesn't anyone ever listen to me?" Rheneas crept along side his colleague.

"And sorry, uh, other red engine. I didn't catch your name before." Karen smirked, ignoring the fact that his name was emblazoned on his boiler.

"My name is Rheneas. You met me before." Rheneas huffed.

"Rheneas? More like Rhe-anus! He he, your name's funny." Karen guffawed loudly. Rheneas and Skarloey were offended. Duke was not impressed by this show of disrespect.

"Such rudeness. That would never suit His Grace!" Grumbled Duke.

"Oh, fuck you, old man!" Karen snapped. Duke choked up on anger. Never in his life had he been insulted in such a crude manner before. His face turned red. "How dare you!" he roared. "You imprudent scallywag! If wasn't a narrow gauge engine, I'd give you such a spanking!"

"Bring it on, old man." Karen challenged him. Soon Sir Handel and Peter Sam had joined the fight. "Don't you dare insult Duke like that, you oversized standard gauge rapscallion." Sir Handel snapped. Mr. Percival had overheard the heated argument from his office and quickly scrambled over just in time to hear Duncan say something he had never said before.

"You know something, lassie, you're a real bitch." Duncan chuffed. "And that's really something coming from me." All the narrow gauge engines gasped. The yard fell silent.

Skarloey and Rheneas slowly backed away, Duncan looked puzzled. He then saw the incredible anger emblazoned on Karen's face. Now Duncan looked worried. "Oh crap!" he gulped. Karen's face twitched like a homicidal maniac.

"Oh really, little engine? Well, _yoooouuuuu_, are a-"

She then ripped into Duncan with a series of violent invectives which involved Duncan suffering an impossibly painful death and violation with some kind of gardening tool. Duncan shook violently, he was a plain speaking engine but he'd never in his lifetime used such obscenities or threaten any engine with a painful death. The engines were appalled… and frightened. Karen then left the station fuming; there was literally fire in her eyes. Duncan's driver stepped out of his cab to check on him. "Are you alright, my boy?" he asked. Duncan was terrified beyond anything he had ever faced. His run-in with the "ghost" on the old Iron Bridge, his accident on the incline slate line, the sudden trip into the mines, they all paled in comparison to what Karen would have in store if he crossed her again.

"I've seen many strange things in my lifetime, but that was the first time I looked upon hell in the eyes of an engine." He chuffed in a panicky tone. Later, Karen returned to Knapford complaining to anyone who was there about Duncan calling her a bitch. Meanwhile, Thomas returned from Crovan's Gate after delivering some goods to the narrow gauge railway. He heard everything and told Henry all about it. Needless to say, a storm cloud rumbled from Henry's funnel. "I see." He said; his eyes twitched with anger.  
"That little demon has gone too far." He took his goods and sat in his shed to brood. The following morning, Henry wasn't feeling any better. The mere utterance of Karen's name sent his boiler into a rage, and his fire hadn't been lit yet. Though she was a hard worker, she had a serious attitude problem. It was then that he made a conscious decision to confront his sister and settle this, once and for all.

On that same day; Karen woke up early and again was eager to get to work. There weren't any birds singing their beautiful songs to bother her. "Exactly how a morning should start." Karen said to herself. It would have been her usual routine that morning: wait for her drivers to arrive, suck down another tanker full of coffee, insult another member of the Island she hadn't met yet and get to work. A rather simple day ahead of Karen as far as she was concerned. Instead, her crew arrived early, fired her up and set off immediately to the yards. "Don't I get my morning coffee?" Karen asked.

"No time to waste." Her driver replied. "We've been assigned important work here." And that was all he said. In the yards, Karen's important work was waiting and so was Henry. "Karen!" he angrily called to her. "What the hell is the matter with you?"

"What do you mean?" Karen asked innocently.

"You know exactly what I mean! Thomas told me what you said to Duncan yesterday, every single last morbid detail. Did you really say to Duncan that you were going to sodomize him with a pair of gardening sheers? My God, what the hell?" Henry was choked up with his own rage; his face had turned a violent shade of red. It wasn't the type of red you'd see on a signal, this was a type of red that spewed out from the depths of hell itself.

"Hey, that little shit deserved it! He called me a bitch and whatnot. I had to defend myself." Karen protested.

"Defend yourself?" Henry snorted. "You said that if he crossed you again that you would tear his drainage cock off with your bare wheels, set fire to his face and feed his boiler to a meat grinder!"

"That bastard had what was coming to him, what with his arrogant, smug-arse attitude and whatnot. I tell you-" As Karen continued her self-important rant, Henry's anger grew tenfold. Karen's words were muted by the red mist that descended over his funnel. His rage had to bleed out some time and this was it.

"THAT'S IT!" Henry exploded like a volcano. "I've had it up to here with your shitty attitude! I've tried to be supportive, _tried_ to be nice to you, but you forced my hand! You've been nothing but trouble ever since you came onto this Island. What you said to Duncan yesterday was inexcusable and it's the last fucking straw!" Karen was amazed by the level of anger coming from Henry as was everyone else in the yard. They all stopped to watch what was going on.

"Hey, I told you that I was defending myself. That little bastard had no right to call me that and-" Henry cut her off.

"My God; you just don't get it, do you? You don't antagonize the engines and people you work with! That's not how the things work here. We respect each other here. We laugh together, we drink together and we play together. We don't go around insulting each other and make fun of each others idiosyncrasies, you… you little fucking demon! That's what you are, a little fucking demon." Now Karen was shocked.

"How can you say that? We're supposed to be family." Karen retorted.

"Family? Ha! We're not family! And you're not my sister! You're nothing but a fucking replica, a mere copy of a great line of engines built long before you! You hide behind the bogus ideals of a human culture because you're scared, scared of actually showing your true feelings. Scared of who you really are. Why don't you grow up for once?"

"But, brother…" Karen spluttered.

"Enough! NOT-ANOTHER-WORD!" Henry boomed. He was about to steam off when another thought crossed his mind.

"And another thing, get rid of that ridiculous makeup you're wearing, knock off that _screw you all_ attitude and act like a real engine." Henry finally stormed off. The yard was in silence. All who witnessed it dared not to utter a word. They all just went about their business. Karen was hurt, but as always, her attitude bled through to salt the wounds. "Yeah well, fuck you then! I don't need you or anyone else! I'll do just fine on my own, you'll see!" Karen puffed away in a huff. She groused as she set off for her morning work details. Her first task for the day was to take some heavy trucks of coal along Ffarquhar Branch for the station waiting room furnaces. She was in a boil when she was coupled up. Karen had to make two trips along the route that day. First the coal runs and then she had to take some heavy gauge steel pipes to Ffarquhar to replace some old drainage pipes at the station. Her driver warned her that the pipes were too heavy to be connected to her current train, but she didn't care. "Just hook up the damn trucks, will you! I can get these jobs done in double quick time." Her driver and fireman weren't so sure about Karen's plan but decided to couple up the heavy trucks. Karen struggled to get a good start, her wheels slipped as she strained to get the train started. Her driver pulled back on the throttle further until Karen gained enough momentum to steam away. "I told you I can do it." Karen laughed out loud, feeling very proud of herself.

"Don't get too cocky." Her driver warned. "We still have a long way to go and it looks like the weather is shifting." Karen's driver was right. He could see from his cab that dark clouds were forming above and the wind was picking up. Lightning struck in the distance. A violent storm was approaching. But Karen wasn't concerned; she just wanted to get the job done as soon as possible. The day started out well enough, Karen dropped off a few loads of coal at the first couple of stations along the line. She could feel the load getting lighter. But the trucks were acting more childish than her. They knew that Karen wasn't at all happy and decided to piss her off. "Hold back! Hold back!" they cried to each other. Karen felt the trucks getting heavier. She struggled to find grip. "The bitch is feeling the burn!" the trucks laughed incessantly.

"Quiet!" Karen thundered.

"_Oooooooohhhh!_" They mocked her, feigning fear. The rain started to fall as Karen continued her run. Heavy rains and wind buffeted Karen. She tried desperately to pull the train, but the rain made the rails slippery. In the confusion of the sudden downpour, a signalman accidentally sent Karen along Toby's route. It was along this route where Toby had inspected the dam once before it was destroyed by the rising tide, sweeping him down river on an old wooden bridge and almost down a waterfall. Karen's driver was very worried. "This doesn't look right." He pondered. "We better go back and-"

"NO!" Karen shouted. "We can still do this." And she surged forward against the wind and rain. Ahead lay certain doom. A tree had fallen into the raging river and took out part the bridge. The rest of the bridge remained firm. It was heavily re-enforced to prevent it being completely washed away, but it still wasn't strong enough to hold the weight of a heavy engine like Karen. As she puffed along the slippery track, Karen drew closer and closer to the danger zone. Around the bend, she saw the bridge. To her horror, she could see that part of it had been destroyed and washed away. "Oh, bloody hell! Stop the train!" she screamed. Her driver slammed on the brakes as hard as he could. Her wheels slipped and slid along the track. Karen tried to stop but the weight of the heavy pipes shifted increasing the momentum. She shut her eyes tightly, thinking she would plunge into the raging waters. At last, the train screeched to a halt, just before the broken part of the bridge. Karen sighed with relief but saw that the water levels were rising. "That was close. Let's get the hell out of here!" she called to her crew. But the trucks were acting up. The increased weight made pushing them almost impossible. Karen's wheels tried to gain grip, but she could hardly move even with the sanding gear. Karen strained hard but she was hopelessly stuck. "We're stuck!" Her fireman cried out as a piece of the bridge came loose. "Shit, I'm gonna die here." Karen sobbed. In her mind, this was probably retribution from above.

"I hope you can swim." The trucks laughed foolishly.

Just then, Karen heard a strange whooping sound. She looked up to see what it was. It was Harold the Helicopter. He was passing by after checking the dam. He could see that Karen and her crew were in serious danger. Her crew was waving frantically for help. "Oh dear, is this a God dam?" Harold chuckled. His pilot radioed the Fat Controller for help. "Never fear, lads." Harold shouted. "Help will be on the way." Meanwhile, Henry was sitting in his shed, still seething from his tirade with Karen. The Fat Controller suddenly burst in almost out of breath and soaking wet. "There's an emergency on Toby's line!"

"Oh, what has that old hunk of wood gotten himself into now?" Henry sighed angrily.

"It's not Toby! It's Karen; she's stuck on the old wooden bridge. It's starting to collapse and she can't go backwards. You have to help her!" Henry was in disbelief. Despite his animosity towards Karen, he couldn't let her be washed away. She was still part of the railway and it's every engines duty to help those in need. That was the creed of Sodor. Henry wasted no time. He was immediately fired up and was on his way to the rescue. Henry gave everything he had to get to the danger zone. "Mustn't let her die. Mustn't let her die." He panted as he turned onto Toby's line. He could see the train ahead and puffed faster. Karen was petrified with fear as more pieces of the bridge were washed away. "Karen!" Henry shouted against the wind. Karen looked back to see her brother, she was too scared to be overjoyed to see him.

"Karen, are you ok?"

"Get me the hell out of here!" Karen shouted back as another piece of the bridge fell away. The bridge gave a sickening creaking noise. Henry was hooked up to the break van while Karen's crew scrambled aboard. On the count of three, the two engines surged backwards. Their wheels burned as they struggled to find grip. "Come on! Push hard! We'll do it!" Henry strained.

"I can't do it! I can't do it!" Karen panted with every puff. Their respective firemen threw sand on the rails to increase the grip. Finally, the heavy train started to budge. With their last puff, the two engines finally pulled and pushed the train onto dry land, just in time before the bridge completely collapsed and washed away down stream. Their crews whooped and cried for joy. Henry and Karen were too exhausted to join in the whooping, but they were glad it was over.

As the storm passed, the two engines steamed back to Tidmouth, side by side. The Fat Controller was waiting for them. He was very pleased. "That was a very brave thing you did, Henry. You deserve an overhaul for your efforts."

"Thank you, sir." Henry was still tired.

"And Karen." The Fat Controller turned to her. "You're very lucky to have a brother like Henry. Obviously he still cares for you, even if your attitude hasn't been the best."

"I am, sir. Very lucky." She said softly. Sir Topham Hatt smiled and patted her running board before he walked back to his car. Henry could see that the experience had an impact of Karen's psyche. She appeared melancholy and reflective. "You ok?" Henry asked.

Karen looked over and tried to put on her trademark attitude. "What? Me? Never better. I've had more terrible experiences then that. It was nothing. It was… nothing." Karen's lip quivered and her face twisted into a blubbering mess. She then burst into tears. "I was so scared." Karen wailed; her tears smudged her makeup creating long black streams down her cheeks. For the first time on the Island, Karen showed genuine emotion. Henry couldn't be mad at her; there was no need to be. He felt remorse for her. "There there, Karen. You're safe, now. I'm here for you." Karen sniffed heavily. "Really?"

"Really. It's like you said, we're family and families are supposed to look out for each other." Henry broke out a tiny smile. Karen did the same.

"Thanks, man." Karen sniffed.

"And for all it's worth, I'm sorry that I said those things to you before. I didn't really mean to say those things." Henry chuffed.

"That's ok. I'm sorry that I've acted so high and mighty." Karen puffed.

"Yes, you should. You were very rude to everyone." Henry's stern attitude returned.

"I know, I know. It was stupid of me to be so immature and cold to everyone. I now know that it was wrong and I shouldn't have acted like that." Karen sobbed. "I'm very sorry." She added. Henry grinned at her. He finally saw that she wasn't such a bad engine after all. God knows that he had met his fair share of bad eggs before, but according to him, Karen was nothing like the others.

"Well, at least you learned something from this. But at the risk of sounding weird, that black makeup actually suits you. That sort of thing makes you… unique. " Henry chuckled.

"Thanks. You're a good brother." And for the first time, Karen smiled brightly.

"And you're a… a… Oh, what the hell! _My_ sister!" Henry smiled back. The two engines laughed. The whole experience had brought the two of them closer together as a family. It was at that point that Karen vowed to never be so insolent and rude again. But she had a long way to repair the damage she had made. Karen had to make amends for her actions and anger-filled words. Over the course of several days, Karen apologized to every engine and every person she had offended and hurt. She first apologized to the narrow gauge engines for making fun of Rusty's "tuneful toot" and for the general disrespect to them all. The little engines were amazed by the turn-around that Karen had made. They were a little skeptical at first but they saw that Karen was being sincere and honest. So they all accepted her apology, apart from Duncan who harboured some resentment and fear towards her. But then again, Duncan had always showed resentment to everybody, especially Mr. Percival. Karen learned that everyone on the Island was more forgiving than she had realized. "Everybody deserves a second chance." Skarloey put it so eloquently. Karen next came across Rosie with her two coaches Jill and Valentine at Maron station. Rosie was still feeling upset from Karen's explicit diatribe and was almost afraid of her. "Hey there, Rosie. Can I talk to you?" Karen spoke to her.

"What is it?" Rosie asked anxiously. "You're not going to yell at me again?"

"No no no, listen. I… I just wanted to apologise for what I said to you earlier. You were right about one thing. I was grumpy because I had no friends in this place. I know I shouldn't deserve any friends now for the way I acted, but if you like, we can still be friends." Karen smiled. Rosie cheered right up; she was delighted to hear that.

"Oh yes, I do." She beamed brightly.

"Cool, cool." Karen smiled back. "Glad to hear that. Oh, I almost forget. I got you something. Glen, if you don't mind?" Karen's driver, Glen, stepped out the cab and handed Rosie's driver a homemade Mix-CD. He showed it to Rosie who examined the album cover. It was made of pink cardboard and emblazoned with sinister looking writing. "Pink Metal?" she wondered.

"I know how much you like pink." Karen smirked.

"Oh, how lovely." Jill beamed.

"Yes, indeed it is." Valentine agreed. Rosie was thrilled.

"It's lovely, thank you." She said sweetly. She then read the track listing on the back. "_Killing Loneliness, Love You to Death, Wings of a Butterfly, Almost Easy, Passions Killing Floor, Wicked Game, We Sleep Forever_?" Rosie had never heard these songs before.

"It's mostly stuff from H.I.M. and some other groups." Karen explained. Rosie didn't know what to make of this but was delighted all the same. After all, it was the thought that counted. "I'll play this when I get home. Thanks again." Rosie smiled her brightest.

"Your welcome." Karen winked at Rosie. "Take care, kid." She tooted goodbye and puffed away. Karen still had a lot of bridges to mend, but her place on Sodor was secured. A few days had passed and Karen had just about finished making amends to everyone. There was a lot of ground to cover. At Knapford station, Karen had coupled up to her express service. Karen had apologized to her passengers just the other day and they were more than happy to come back to her rail service. "Bertie likes to listen to his speed metal when he drives." One passenger explained.

"His Cannibal Corpse and Slayer stuff almost sent us deaf." Another enlightened. Karen sniggered as the passengers boarded her train. The Fat Controller stopped by to check up on Karen. She had yet to apologize to him. "Well, Karen." Sir Topham Hatt politely conversed with her. "Glad to see you've worked things out with your regulars, I see."

"Indeed we have, sir." Karen answered. "And, by the way, sir. I'm-"

"It's alright, Karen." Sir Topham Hatt cut her off, politely. "I know what you're going to say. And I accept your apology."

"Thank you, sir." Karen beamed.

"Any time, luv." Sir Topham winked at her.

"You know, it's weird, sir." Karen thought out loud. "I was so rude and heartless to all these kind people and engines for the short while I was here, yet it only took me a shorter period of time to make up for it. Amazing."

"Yes, well, I've always believed that if you do good things then good things will happen to you. Do bad things, well, they'll just come back and bite you right on the arse." The Fat Controller chortled.

"Hmm, so true. Does this mean I can play my metal again?" Karen asked.

"Well, we'll see. But, uh, out of curiosity. Don't you have something a bit more tuneful?" The Fat Controller asked.

"Maybe, maybe I don't? What did you have in mind?" Karen wondered.

"Well, I don't know. How about some Johnny Cash?" The Fat Controller requested.

"You're kidding, right?" Karen was perplexed.

"No, I most certainly am not." The Fat Controller laughed and passed a Johnny Cash CD to her driver. Karen thought this over for a bit.

"Well… ok. But only because he did that kickarse cover of _Hurt_." Karen smiled. The Fat Controller laughed. The same black-haired, glasses wearing passenger from before raised his arms and formed devil-horns with his hands.

"Johnny Cash rules!" he shouted.

"Och aye, don I know it." Donald agreed whole heartedly from the next platform. Soon, Karen set off for Barrow-in-Furness. The old-time Western singer blared over the coach's loudspeakers with his unforgettable track _Ring of Fire_. The passengers rather enjoyed it and, surprisingly, even the pessimistic Goth engine. Karen loves being part of Sodor and being part of The Fat Controller's railway. She no longer displays her original cold and detached personality that had gotten her into so much strife. On some occasions, however, Karen reverts back her old personality when ever she needs to, particularly when dealing with Diesel, who often acted cold and menacing towards her. Even though she sometimes felt out of place in the bright and vibrant atmosphere of Sodor, Karen wouldn't want to live anywhere else. She was very happy there. She had newly found friends, a beautiful place to live in and, most important of all, a family to call her own.

Chapter 2 Bonus Story: The "Doomed" Observation Coach

Karen slowly pulled up to Knapford Station, coupling onto her _Dark Horse_ express train due for Barrow-in-Furness. Attached to her train was a brand new domed Observation coach shipped in from the United States. The other engines admired it, most having never seen such a coach before. Made of stainless steel, rounded at the end and painted black to match Karen's paint work, it was an impressive sight. The shades on all the windows were pulled shut, a curious thing to note on a coach like that. Thomas couldn't help but admire the coach; it was his first time seeing it. "That looks cool. What is it exactly?" he asked Karen.

"It's my new 'doomed' observation coach." Karen answered gloomily.

"Don't you mean a _domed_ observation coach?" Gordon corrected her, having some knowledge on rolling stock from other countries.

"No, _doomed_." Karen replied, correcting Gordon. The other engines were confused by this when they heard a car pull up.

"Ah, my coach attendants have arrived." Karen grinned as she observed the arrival. The engines watched as a slick black Plymouth GTX pull up to the station. Stepping out of the car was two of the strangest looking people they had ever seen. They were a pair of dominatrix', clad in heavy leather and carrying the most diabolical of tools. The male dominatrix' heavy boots thumped and echoed in the station, the female's high heel boots clicked along the concrete. Both passengers and engines were equally surprised to see such people. Even the Fat Controller who was conversing with his wife over the phone was in disbelief, dropping his mobile accidentally onto the tracks. The two leather clad people stalked up to the coach.

"Morning Maynard. Morning Alexia." Karen cheerfully greeted them.

"Morning." The two answered in unison. The male dominatrix, Maynard, climbed aboard the train while Alexia, the other half, turned to the bemused passengers briefly and cracked her whip. Everyone jumped as Alexia was helped aboard the train by Maynard. Gordon and Thomas were horrified and turned to Karen who smugly grinned at them.

"Told you." She said darkly to Gordon. The Station Master blew his whistle and waved his flag. With a dark little toot of her own, Karen rumbled out of Knapford and steamed to her next destination. The sounds of Killswitch Engage thundered in her cab. Gordon and Thomas said nothing as Karen's express disappeared from sight. What could they say? As Karen streaked across the countryside, she smiled and thought to herself, _what a wonderful world_. The passengers in the observation coach hadn't realized that they would be in for a wild ride. Regardless of that, they didn't mind at all. Did they?


	3. Chapter 3: Her Ghost in the Fog

**Chapter 3: Her Ghost in the Fog**

_I was once a proud engine, as happy as I can be._

_Until I made a sudden detour into the sea._

_I was plucked from the water so murky and cold._

_The men that worked on me were brave and bold._

_Soon I will rise again like a phoenix, you will see._

It is often said that night is the time where evil spirits come out to wreck havoc. The Island of Sodor was not exempt from this old proverb. Night time on Sodor had always hosted its strange share of ghosts and paranormal activity. However, these strange happenings would most often then not be explained away with simple rational explanations. But there have been times where rationality gave way to the unexplained. Fog had always been an issue on Sodor, parts of the Island was just above sea level. Whenever the fog rolled in, it always came in thick and fast, leaving whoever was running almost lost. On one cold night, Edward was pulling a late night goods train. That night, the fog was particularly think and pea-soupy; the rails were barely visible and it made the journey long and treacherous. Edward loved running at night. The air was crisp in his smoke box; the rails gave out a gentle hum as chuffed along the line. Edward could barely see what was in front of him and had to squint for most of the way. His driver and fireman were clearly anxious.

"Steady on, old boy. We're almost home." His driver, Charlie Sand, called to him.

"Good, I could use a rest after this." Edward said, squinting as hard as he can.

"Better be on our toes, lads. This fog is getting pretty thick." Sidney Hever, his fireman added, peering out of Edward's cab.

"No fear, lads." Edward laughed out loud. "I know this track like the back of my hand, I mean, tender."

"Yes, well, don't get too cocky, Edward." Charlie called out. "Even the best of us can get lost in this mess." Edward merely snorted. He took great pride in the fact that he knew every curve, every bump, every set of points and every signal on every square inch on the Island of Sodor. But even he had to admit that he had often gone over his head at times. The journey was getting treacherous by the minute. Edward had to stop several times for his driver to get out and check his bearings. Edward and his crew seemed to wander hopeless in the fog before finally regrouping at a signal box and getting back on the right direction. As Edward squinted in the thick miasma, he thought he saw something up in the distance. It seemed to be a glowing red lamp. It wasn't static like a signal light or a warning light; it appeared to float above the track like a tail lamp for an engine. "That's odd." He said to himself. "There can't be another engine on the line." Edward smelt the air and the unmistakable aroma of smoke filled his nostrils. He knew it right there and then that it _was_ another engine. But who was it? All Edward could see was the tail lamp glowing in the miasma. "Charlie!" he called to his driver. "There's another engine in front of us." Edwards's crew was perplexed.

"Impossible." Sidney doubted. "The signalman would have warned us if there was someone else on the line." Edward wanted to get closer to the mystery engine in front of him, but he knew it would be a calculated risk. If the engine in front of him stopped suddenly, Edward would have no time to stop and would plow straight into the engine. Edward drew closer to the engine in front of him. He tooted loudly and called out, "Hello there!" There was no reply; the engine seemed to be going faster. Edward picked up speed and gave chase. "Careful, Edward. We're running blind here!" Charlie Sand exclaimed. Edward squinted hard through the fog until he could see some detail on the engine ahead. He could see the engine's tender and a familiar hue. Edward couldn't make out what kind of tender it was at first until it struck him. Edward made a terrible realization and yelled out, "Stop! Stop the train!" Charlie Sand slammed on the brakes and Edward screeched to a halt. The mystery engine thundered into the distance, slipping deeper into the thick fog. Charlie Sand rushed out of the cab to check on Edward. His face showed tremendous fear and disbelief. "What is it? What was that?" he asked frantically. Edward was trying to make sense at what he had seen. "No, it can't be." He murmured to himself, his voice cracked with fear. "But you're dead."

"What?" Charlie asked again, looking back into the fog. "What did you see?" Edward gulped hard, his expression said it all. "Molly?"

Dawn arrived; the fog had burned off in the morning sun, unveiling a perfect blue sky. At Knapford station, some of the engines were busy preparing for another long, hard day of work. Henry and Karen were splitting an extra large tanker truck of coffee. Henry had never drunk coffee before but apparently he seemed to enjoy it. "This coffee is wonderful." Said Henry. "Do all Goths like you drink coffee as well?"

"No. It's a common misconception. I just drink coffee to keep me awake during all those late night runs." Karen explained. "You know, a lot of people think that Goths are associated with violence, hatred of minorities and white supremacy. But that's all bogus. It's just like the idea that listening to death metal or playing Grand Theft Auto will incite violence."

"You should tell me more some day." Henry smirked and sucked down another gulp.

"Can I have some of that?" Percy asked innocently.

"No, Percy, you may not have some coffee." Henry stated firmly. "Your little boiler will not be able to cope with all this caffeine and sugar and… is that cream I can taste?"

"Yep." Karen answered.

"AND cream!"

"But I want some!" Percy whined as loud as he could.

"Oh just let the little bugger have some. You're not his dad, are you?" Karen laughed.

"Last time I checked, no." Henry driver's took the hose from Henry's mouth and placed it into Percy's. He took one long sip before the caffeine kicked in like an epileptic donkey. Percy's eyes spun in their sockets and he shot out of the station with lightning speed. His driver tried to apply the brakes but he couldn't! All the engines watched as Percy darted further into the distance. In the yards, Donald and Douglas, the Scottish Twins were about to haul some heavy trucks when they heard a familiar whistle. "Do ye he'r that, Douggie?" Donald spoke up.

"It sounds like Percy, but it kin nae be Percy." Douglas answered. They listened hard as Percy sped by the twins screaming "_Wheeeeeheeeeeeeee!_" at the top of this boiler. His driver was still desperately trying to apply the brakes, but they were starting to melt and spark from the friction. "Percy!" his driver shouted. "Please stop, _pleeeeeeaaaaassseee!_" As Percy screamed further and further into the distance, Donald and Douglas tried to make sense of what they had seen. "Ye nowt see that evra dey, Douggie." Donald was amazed.

"Aye, Donal'." Douglas concurred, very much astonished. Meanwhile, back in Knapford, the engines were still all agape. Gordon had a wicked thought, "Hmmm, can I have some?" he asked. His driver was horrified.

"No." He said firmly to his engine. Gordon sighed despondently. "But it'll do wonders for my hangovers." He complained.

"You'll have orange juice like everyone else." His driver snapped. Gordon groaned. At that point, Thomas and James pulled up to the station; they were engaged in a rather unusual conversation. "I don't mind that this Island is such a sausage festival, Thom-Thom." Said James. "That means all the more for me." He purred.

"Yeah well, too bad we all don't swing your way, Jimmie." Thomas puffed.

"Don't be so sure, Thom-Thom." James lisped happily. He noticed Murdoch the BR Standard Class 9F steaming towards the station. "Hey there, sweetie!" James tooted loudly to him. Murdoch blew a kiss to James as he puffed by with his long goods train. Thomas was amazed. "Well I'll be painted pink and renamed Rosie. I would have never have guessed it."

"Neither did I, until he found out I was gay. We just, sort of… _coupled_." James beamed. The other engines were equally amazed. As Murdoch disappeared from sight, Edward pulled into the station next to Henry. He was still shaken by his late night run-in with his "ghost train."

"Good morning, Eddie." Henry heartily tooted.

"Morning." Edward didn't sound too enthusiastic.

"Is something the matter, Edward?" Henry asked.

"You look as if you'd seen a ghost, and I've seen that look before." Karen put in.

"I… I… saw something that… no. No, I can't really tell you guys, you'll think I'm going crazy." Edward answered.

"Oh come on, Old Iron. Just start from the beginning." Said James sympathetically.

"Well, last night, I was taking a long goods train along my branch line. The fog was getting pretty thick; I could have stopped and waited it out till morning. But, like the resilient old engine I am, I had to complete my journey. I had gotten onto the mainline when I saw something ahead of me."

"What was it?" Thomas was drawn in.

"I didn't know what it was at first." Edward continued his story. "But I discovered that it was a tail lamp. It was just floating above the tracks ahead of me in the fog. I then knew that there was another engine in front of me. So I steamed up closer to get a closer look and then I saw something. It almost made me jump out of my bogies."

"Was it a ghost train?" Thomas asked.

"No, it wasn't a ghost train! It was solid. Pure steel and iron was puffing right in front of me! And you'll never believe who it was." Edward raised his voice. "It was Molly!"

The engines were such dismay that they had difficulty registering this. "You gotta be kidding me!" James scoffed. The other engines deflated such an irreverent notion. Edward was cross. He knew what he saw was the real deal and didn't like to put down like this.

"I'm telling you, it's true. I saw her with my own eyes." Said Edward unyielding.

"Then I think you need a second opinion." James retorted.

"I don't _need_ a second opinion. My eyes are as sharp since the day I was built. I know what I saw. Molly _is_ alive!"

"That's just silly! Molly is dead. We all saw her being railed away under that tarpaulin. The dead don't come back to life." Thomas rebutted.

"How dare you speak ill of the dead, Edward!" Gordon angrily remarked.

"Uh, not to sound disrespectful but who's Molly?" Karen asked her big brother.

"Your unfortunate predecessor. Let me explain." Henry told Karen all about Molly and her terrible demise as they steamed away from Knapford. All the engines steamed away with all their important work to take care of, leaving Edward very much peeved.

_So low and behold, I am not believed._

_My friends think I'm crazy, my story ill conceived._

_But my story is true, nothing is phony._

_No sooner they will know it is not baloney._

_Just you engines wait, I will be reprieved._

"Perhaps he's getting senile at his age." Gordon said to himself as he took his express.

"I've heard some crazy shit in my time but my God damn, that is by far the craziest." James muttered.

"Preposterous." Henry grumbled. "Imagine thinking that an engine as wise and rational as Edward would honestly believe that he would have seen an engine we know is long gone."

"Don't sell that wise old engine short." Karen rebutted. "He sounded pretty convinced to me that he had seen something. Perhaps he is telling the truth."

"Perhaps, but the idea that someone that we've worked with, that we've interacted with and believe to be dead has suddenly emerged from the proverbial tomb is ludicrous. I tell you, that fog must have played some serious tricks on him." Henry huffed.

"I don't know, dude." Said Karen. "Stranger things have happened." She sighed. The engines decided not to speak about this for the rest of the day. The idea of ghosts and paranormal activity was something of a trivial notion to them. None of them really believed in ghosts. There had been past instances where they believed they had come into contact with some kind of deceased soul. Naturally, these instances were always proven to be anything but paranormal. As strange as Edward's ghostly account was, they almost started to believe it. The thought of Molly actually being alive would be shocking, of course, but it would also be splendid. Knowing that she somehow survived her incredible swan dive off the viaduct would have been comforting to the engines. But in the end, they had to contend with reality and face the truth that their friend was gone and all that was left was grief.

Later that night, James was hauling a train of dynamite and other explosives to the Ffarquhar quarry. The shipment of explosives arrived by cargo ship at Brendam Docks. Thomas was charged with being James' support engine. James and Thomas couldn't go too quickly; the load they were shunting was dangerous and needed the best of care. Fog was starting to roll in over the Island so extra precautions had to be taken. Along the way, Thomas was reflecting on Edward's strange occurrence in the fog. Thomas had always looked up to Edward whenever he needed advice or help with any situation. He knew that Edward loved to tell tales of ghost engines and strange tales, but this was nothing like the ones he told. Thinking back on it, the story sounded feasible. It almost made sense to Thomas but he had been wrong before. The two engines had to stop at a signal to let Gordon pass with his late night express. Thomas decided to nip this in the bud and speak his mind.

"Do you think what Edward said before was true?" Thomas called to James.

"Fuck no, Thom-Thom. I think it's all a load of crap. If you ask me, Edward is just playing us for idiots. False hope, I call it." James huffed.

"But Edward's never been wrong about anything before. Maybe he is right about this."

"But didn't you said to ol' Eddie that the dead don't come back to life?" said James, thinking back to that morning at Knapford.

"Yeah, but that was before I thought this through in a more logical sense. Isn't it possible that Molly is, in fact, alive and is somewhere on this Island?" Thomas asked hypothetically.

"We've all thought about that, young Thomas." James' tone shifted. "Maybe it is possible that Molly survived her fall. But there has been nothing to prove that otherwise. I remember when that day happened; The Fat Controller told us all that something tragic happened to poor Molly. I asked him what happened to her and he only told us that she went away. He didn't say much but I came to the conclusion that poor Molly had died. I've since made peace with that pain. It still hurts sometimes but in time those wounds will heal. And your wounds will heal too." James sighed heavily. Thomas was silent. In this heart, he still had a small glimmer of hope that perhaps Edward did see what he saw that night. James' words offered some solace, but he could feel the pain flooding back to his pistons. A small tear formed in Thomas' eye.

"Hey, if it's any consolation to you, in some strange way, Molly is alive. She's alive in all our hearts and our minds. Do you understand?" James asked in a comforting tone.

"Yeah." Thomas answered softly. The signal changed and the two continued their solemn journey to the quarry. They hadn't realised that the fog was getting thicker by the minute. Soon, visibility had reduced to near zero. Not even the powerful headlamps on James' running board were able to pierce through the thick fog that had descended upon the Island. In the distance, James and Thomas heard church bells tolling, thus adding to the already creepy atmosphere created by the fog. "James, this is scaring the crap out of me." Thomas called out.

"I know; I'm scared too." James admitted. They had no choice but to stop. Thomas and James' crews conversed with each other and decided that their only safe bet was to stop at the nearest station and hold out until the morning. According to their GPS systems, the nearest station was Crosby, several miles up the line. So they started up again and slowly trundled along the line. James kept a sharp eye out for danger. Thomas held his breath and hoped they didn't run into any trouble. In the distance, the two brave engines heard the sound of an engine coming the opposite way. James' driver and fireman peered out of his cab to see which engine was coming towards them. The fog made it impossible to make out any track side markers or anything for that matter. James squinted to get a better look. "Hey, I can see something." James shouted as the sounds drew closer. His face suddenly dropped with horror as he saw the engine emerge from the fog. James let out a terrified scream as the mystery engine thundered by him. "What is it, James?" Thomas called out. He could hardly see as the explosives trucks blocked his forward view. But in the corner of his eye, he saw the engine thunder by. The face was very familiar. Thomas was frightened beyond anything he had experienced. "Holy fucking shit!" he shrieked. James and Thomas' crews applied the brakes and brought them to a halt. Both engines had indeed shat themselves. They were frozen with terror. "Did you see that?" Thomas yelled out to his comrade.

"Yeah, as clear as snow!" James' heart, I mean, super heater was racing. "That old codger was right!" Their crews had witnessed it too. They didn't know what to make of it. "The dead don't come back to life; the dead don't come back to life!" Thomas muttered hysterically.

"What the hell did you just see? What the fucking hell did you just _see_?" exclaimed James; his eyes were wide with terror.

"Then, it's a ghost! Its Molly's ghost!" Thomas gulped hard.

"That wasn't a ghost, Thomas." James corrected him. He knew what he saw _was_ real. His eyes never lied to him. "That was Molly! SHE'S ALIVE!"

A new day arrived on Sodor. James and Thomas had stayed up all night, trying to make sense at what they had seen. Did they actually see what they saw in the mist or was it the mist itself playing a cruel trick? James was convinced that the mystery engine that passed by him was in fact Molly, very much alive. Thomas, on the other hand, was adamant that what he saw in his peripheral vision was a ghost. The two engines had argued all through the night, even as they stopped at Crosby to wait out until morning. Both engines were exhausted and looked rather disheveled. They delivered their load of dynamite to Ffarquhar quarry and set off for home. At Tidmouth sheds, the other engines were preparing to head off for the day. Percy, on the other hand, was suffering from severe withdrawal symptoms from his date with caffeine. He had crashed from the intake of sugar, cream and cocoa powder he had swallowed. The engines saw Thomas and James arrive home. They could see that they looked terrible. "What happened to you two?" Emily asked; she was concerned. "You both look like shite."

"Really? I hadn't noticed." James answered groggily. "It just that we both had a long night. Pulling heavy trains and running into supposedly dead engines and all that."

"I keep telling you that we ran into a ghost." Thomas grumbled drowsily.

"And like I keep telling you, that was no ghost." James argued.

"What are you two on about?" Gordon asked.

"We saw something, last night. Something shocking." Thomas spoke up. "It was a ghost. The very same one that Edward saw." Gordon, Henry and Emily groaned angrily. Edward didn't think that this was something to scoff at. He had remained unwavering about what he had seen, much to the chagrin of his fellow steam engines.

"Oh no, not this again." Gordon moaned with discontent.

"It's true. We saw it with our own eyes. It was Molly's ghost!" Thomas shouted.

"It was not a damn ghost!" James gritted his teeth. "It WAS her, you nitwit!"

"So you admit that Molly is alive?" Edward snapped.

"That's exactly what I am admitting." James answered.

"You engines are complete idiots." Emily scoffed. "Sometimes your imaginations just run away with you. What are you, like eight years old?"

"Yeah, well, imagine this!" James snarled and tried to give Emily the finger, but he had no arms or fingers to do so. James' crew, however, did. "I know what I saw." James retorted.

"So cold, so very cold." Percy shivered.

"What utter nonsense!" Gordon boomed. "Do you honestly believe that what you saw was indeed genuine?"

"Yes, it was as real and you and me!" James answered strongly.

"Humph!" Henry huffed. "I'll believe it when I see it." Henry was skeptical.

"Fine!" James snapped. "You want to see it for yourselves? Then you will! You are all pulling night shifts tonight, aren't you? Well just you wait. As you steam through the hills, you will look upon the face of your old dead friend and, mark my words, you will become believers. And when you do, don't come crawling to me when you are frightened out of your metal skin."

"Yeah, and me!" added Thomas angrily.

"Shut up, Thom-Thom." James talked down to Thomas.

"Very well." Gordon answered the challenge. "If we do see anything tonight, then we'll drop the skepticism and believe it for ourselves. And if we don't, we'll just think you're nuts."

"I look forward to it." James sneered as the turntable swung him around and he backed into his berth. Thomas waited his turn and entered his berth. The other engines set off for their daily grind. They were looking forward to proving Thomas, James and Edward wrong. Edward wondered if James' somewhat left-field challenge to the others was entirely clear-headed. _Kind of a ballsy move there, I must say._ He thought to himself. _Stupid, but ballsy._ James and Thomas had settled in for their much needed rest. As he slowly dozed off, James thought about how wonderful it would be to make the other engines eat their own words.

_The engines think we're fools, they are not convinced._

_Each word I croaked, they just sat back and grimaced._

_But when the night rolls in, as will the mist._

_And they see Molly steam by; it'll be such a twist. _

_Oh boy, will their skeptic words be ever so minced._

Day turned to night and the engines were working their tenders off with their important night rail services. Gordon took his trademark express to and from Barrow-in-Furness, Henry was to take a special long haul delivery of heavy steel to the new radio tower construction site near Ballahoo and Emily was to collect some new cars for the recently opened Ford dealership in Knapford. The engines still thought that James and Thomas' encounter with something paranormal was bullshit, as Henry put it to himself. Still, the engines couldn't help but wonder. Were they going to run into the supposed "Ghost of Molly" or the actual Molly? They didn't know nor did they want to know. They had their jobs to do and that was that. Dawn's early light came again on the Island of Sodor. James was itching to know if any of his comrades had run into anything the night before. He so wanted to make them eat their badly chosen words. He soon found out as he discovered Gordon, Henry and Emily had slipped into their berths sometime during the night. "Wake up, sleepy heads." he cried out to the three big engines. They stirred back to the realm to the living, still rather groggy. "Soooo, did any of you guys have an interesting night?" James raised an eyebrow.

"Huh? What?" Gordon mumbled, still half asleep.

"I think he means if we ran into any ghost engines, last night." Emily yawned.

"Oh yes, I remember now." Said Gordon, stretching his aching wheels. "Well, it was a rather boring night actually. I didn't see any ghosts or anything of the sort."

"I saw nothing." Emily added.

"Same here." Said Henry hazily. James was surprised, he wasn't expecting this.

"What? Are you sure you didn't see anything?" James anxiously asked.

"Look, laddie, it was a perfectly clear night last night. You could see for miles. If I did run into a ghost train, I would have seen it coming." Emily replied wearily; she was about drift back into sleep.

"Are you guys absolutely positive?" James was desperate to make sure.

"Look, James. As much as we enjoy your company and whatnot, you can be very grating and tiresome when it comes to telling how good it is to be red or spouting stories of dead loved ones." said Gordon, he was in no mood to argue. "I don't know what you, Edward and young Thomas saw, but I'm sure it wasn't a ghost or, indeed, our long dead friend. Take my advice, for the greater good of Sodor, just let this go. And for the sake of the memory of Molly, put this to peace." Gordon finished and dozed off to sleep. James felt despondent. He was so convinced that he had seen the figure of Molly in the fog that he was desperate for the world to believe him. He then thought at how Thomas would feel if his theory was debunked in the same manner as well.

"It's foolish to think that you can convince the world that you made a discovery of any kind." Edward spoke up. "Even the great minds of the world were shot down because of what they believed in. Sometimes they convinced the masses, other times they didn't."

"Then what did we see?" James asked uncomfortably.

"We saw what we wanted to see. I'm sticking to my guns here, and you should too. But when it comes down to it, you just can't make an honest skeptic believe you, no matter how long you try to convince them." Edward sighed and went back to sleep. James had convinced himself that his experience was genuine but then he didn't know what to make of it at that moment. Perhaps it was the fog playing a cruel trick on him. Perhaps it was a grief stricken hallucination. But if wasn't any of these, then what was it?

"But I was so sure." James said to himself. His mind kept turning with so many questions that he wasn't able to sleep. He looked over at Thomas who was still asleep. He knew how innocent young Thomas was and how shattered he was when he heard of the tragic event. Perhaps what Thomas believed was a ghost was also a grief stricken hallucination. A lot of the engines on Sodor believed they had seen Molly in some form sometime after her death, but these all turned out to be a trick of their imaginations. Maybe this was the case for what happened to James, Thomas and Edward. But then again, maybe it wasn't. That was a complete mystery to James. A mystery that he was sure would remain refuted.

Morning came and it was another beautiful day on the Island. Thomas and Toby were put in charge of taking tanker trucks of petrol and diesel to a new construction site. The Sodor Construction Company was working overtime on a secret project. Thomas had urged his friend Jack to tell him what he and the Pack were working on, but Jack declined to utter a word of it, saying it was his secret. Throughout the trip, Thomas was deep in thought. James had told him about what the other engines said to him earlier. Naturally, Thomas was shattered. The others engines didn't believe him and James and suspected that they thought he was crazy. Thomas had begun to wonder about his ghost encounter the night before. He started to doubt if what he saw was even real or the grief getting to him. Thomas was so absorbed in his thoughts that he barely concentrated on his work. "Thomas? Thomas?" Toby called to him. "Were you even listening to me?" Toby had been prattling on endlessly about his relationship with Mavis, the Nü Metal diesel. Thomas snapped out of his trance. "Huh? What? Oh, sorry about that. I was miles away."

"More like light years away." Toby laughed. "What were you daydreaming about?"

"Oh, just about an old friend." Thomas sighed.

"You were thinking about Molly, weren't you?" Thomas was surprised. "James told me all about your strange experience." Toby explained.

"Yeah, that's exactly it. You probably think I made it up too, huh?" Thomas sniffed.

"On the contrary, Thomas, I believe you." Toby smiled. "Because I have seen her too." Thomas gasped. Finally, someone who wasn't a skeptic. Even more so, Toby was a witness. "Really? You actually saw Molly? How?" Thomas asked frantically.

"Well." Toby began his story. "I was pulling my passenger service one night. It was particularly foggy that night; so much so that I had to slow down so severely that I thought the snails would catch up to me. Anyway, I was approaching Gordon's Hill; I had to speed up because of the steep incline. I tried my hardest to power up the hill, but the rails were so slippery. I was virtually fighting gravity so I had to stop."

"And that's when you came across Molly?" Thomas interrupted him.

"Yes, that's exactly it." Toby continued. "As I came to a halt at the bottom of the hill, I heard another engine coming. I couldn't see through the incredible miasma that night. But as the engine approached, I finally saw some shape and form to it. To my surprise, I recognized the engine shape. It was a GER 'Claud Hamilton' 4-4-0, Molly's body design! I knew it then and there that it was her, but for some reason, it didn't look like her."

"How so?" Thomas pondered.

"Well, this may sound strange, but her boiler looked… bare." Toby explained, thinking back to that night.

"Bare? You mean, without the steel covering around the boiler?" Thomas asked.

"No, I mean, her familiar yellow hue was gone. Her boiler was just the bare grey steel colour, almost as if she was rebuilt without being repainted." Said Toby.

"Interesting. You didn't think it was a ghost or anything?" Thomas probed deeper.

"That's what I thought at first, but as the engine steamed by me, I distinctly smelled smoke. Smoke and embers. There was no question in my mind that it _was_ a real engine that sped past me that cold, pea-soupy night."

"Why haven't you told anyone about this?" Thomas was curious to know.

"Because I found it hard to fathom that someone dead could come back to life. I thought maybe I was going crazy in my old age. Or maybe it was the fog playing me for a fool. Plus I thought that this was an isolated incident so I decided to keep it to myself. And think about it, who would believe me? An aging steam tram who believed he saw the form of a long dead engine in thick fog? I would have been a laughing stock to the entire community. I couldn't risk ruining my reputation as being wise and respected. Humph, a bit too late for old Edward, I'm afraid." Toby huffed indignantly.

"But I believe you, Toby." Puffed Thomas supportively.

"Yeah, but only because saw it for yourself." Toby chuffed. "It's the others who have remained skeptics. They chose not to believe because reliving that dreadful day will only open up old wounds. It will only give them false hope. And if it was proven false, that will only deepen those wounds further. The engines would have hated me for bringing the memory of Molly into disrepute." Thomas understood his concern but not his reason to keep this to himself.

"But you told me that you recognized the shape. Your knowledge of all the different engine types and wheel arrangements that enter this place has always been your strong suit. The engines would have believed you." Thomas pointed out. Toby's knowledge of steam and diesel engines was beyond extensive. Being the oldest member of the team, Toby had seen literally thousands of different engines types and makes over the years, memorizing every single detail of each engine, from the minutest piece of engineering to the largest. Even with this knowledge at his disposal, Toby wanted to play it safe when it came to this.

"It's not a question of belief; it's a question of wanting to believe. The engines all believe that Molly is dead, who am I to change that? Neither you or I or anyone else can change that belief. It just doesn't work that way." Toby sighed and continued on his journey. Thomas wasn't feeling better, in fact, he felt worse. Beside him was another member of Sodor who had a freak encounter with their supposedly dead friend and he decided to keep it quiet. As righteous as his reasons were for keeping quiet about this, Thomas almost hated Toby for it. _Toby could have easily convinced the others about his experience, not doubt about it._ Thomas thought to himself. _But then again, James and Edward failed to convince the others about what they saw, so why should Toby be any different?_ Thomas' heart sunk further. He so wanted to believe in a world of open-minded individuals, but time after time would prove; that wasn't so. The world Thomas lived in was full of skeptics, none of them ready to believe in a story that defied all rationality. Toby and Thomas finally reached the construction site and delivered their loads of petrol and diesel. Jack the front loader waved hello to Thomas with his bucket, but Thomas didn't notice. He just delivered the load and scuttled away, almost ready to cry. Jack was a little upset that Thomas didn't respond but also a little concerned as to why he was upset. As the two engine steamed back to Knapford, the pain started to seep into Thomas' boiler again. It felt horrible to him.

_Ghosts and goblins and things that go bump._

_Haunted by visions of a friend that went to the dump._

_That sad moonlit dancer slipped into my dreams._

_I know bringing her back would go to extremes._

_In the deepest part of my heart, sadness formed a lump._

Several days passed without incident. There had been no sightings of Molly or any ghosts that looked like her. The engines continued to work as if nothing was wrong, but the stress was getting to them. The constant day-night shifts were putting added strain on the engines, especially on those that experienced a ghostly encounter. Thomas was afraid to take any more night services fearing that he would encounter another Molly sighting. James didn't admit it to anyone but he was afraid of going out at night as well, though he soldiered on and prayed for the best. As for Edward, he hardly spoke to anyone for days. Some thought he was still seething from being torn down by the engines. Others thought that he was just being reflective on his experience. The tension between the engines had almost reached fever-pitch until one bitterly cold night in the middle of autumn. Snow had fallen on the Island creating a pure white landscape. Gordon, Emily and Henry were assigned to take different services that night. Gordon had his usual express; Henry had his usual _Flying Kipper_ service and Emily was to deliver more Ford automobiles to the showroom in Knapford. The three engines all enjoyed taking their night runs, it gave them time to think and clear themselves of any tension they felt during the day. They were looking forward to their night runs. Unfortunately, they hadn't counted on the weather taking an eerie turn that night. The Island's trademark fog came down hard, even thicker then before. As Gordon, Emily and Henry steamed through the pitch black night, they became hopelessly lost in the fog. Their headlamps were useless in the thick haze that smothered them. The engines had to slow down to a snails pace for their drivers to check their bearings. To say that the engines were spooked would be the understatement of the year. They were frightened within an inch of their driving wheels. That was when they each encountered something that made them jump out of their running board. What happened that night in the miasma was, to say the least, bloodcurdling.

The next morning saw the result of last night's ordeal. Thomas, James and Edward all woke up to start another day of being ostracized when they saw their comrades. Gordon, Henry and Emily hadn't slept a wink. They appeared to be frozen with fear. Gordon almost sounded to be whimpering to himself. He was muttering something to the extent of, "There isn't any coming back! There isn't any coming back!" Percy, on the other hand, was sleeping happily… although rather soundly, having gotten over his caffeine rush. James, Edward and Thomas looked at each other for a moment, they were quite puzzled. Thomas decided to speak up. "Uh, hey guys." The three big engines jumped, screaming like girls. Percy stirred from his deep sleep.

"Huh? What? Is it time for school?" Percy asked groggily. He noticed that the three big engines looked rather spooked. "Did you guys drink coffee too?" he innocently asked.

"What happened to you guys?" Thomas asked.

"What? Happen? Nothing happened." Gordon lied.

"Couldn't have been a perfect night." Emily lied through her teeth.

"We just had a late night, that's all." Henry spluttered. "A very… long… night." Then, all three engines started frantically talking at once about what really happened to them. Edward couldn't get a straight answer and tried to calm the big engines down. "Calm down everyone. Will everyone please calm the fuck down?" The engines quieted down.

"That's better." Edward chuffed.

"Oh, Edward, it was terrible!" Emily shrieked hysterically. "We saw it, all of us!"

"Molly's ghost?" Thomas asked.

"No, not a ghost, Thomas. The genuine article!" Henry chuffed. "You were right, guys. Molly _is_ alive! Alive and scaring the willies out of everyone." The honesty in Henry's voice was unmistakable, he was telling the truth. James wanted to be sympathetic but he was dying to rub this in everyone's face. This was the opportunity he had waited for. "I hate to say I told you so, but I told you so." James lisped very overjoyed.

"This is no time to gloat, you pansy." Gordon snapped.

"Sticks and stones, fat-arse." said James mockingly.

"Bite me!" Gordon growled.

"Ok ok, settle down." Edward intervened. "Gordon, why don't you start with your account for the evening?"

"Very well." Gordon cleared his throat. "I was taking my usual express to Barrow-in-Furness, right? Everything was going rather well when the fog came down. Needless-to-say, I was pretty worried for my safety. So I slowed down to lower the risk of crashing into any trains in front of me. I thought I had lost my way until I came across a familiar junction. The signal was red so I came to a stop. I couldn't see anything through the murkiness. That was until I heard something coming. I thought it was either one of my comrades here, until… I saw her."

"Was it the ghost train?" Percy asked.

"Let me finish." Gordon answered crossly. "Anyway, I saw the unmistakable shape of our old friend, Molly, steaming by me. As you can tell, it scared the soot out of me. I was in utter disbelief. Although from what I could see through the mist, it looked as if she was more surprised to see me."

"Why is that?" Thomas asked.

"Well, Molly seemed to pick up speed as she rumbled by me, as if she didn't want to be seen by anyone. Ha, too late I'm afraid." Gordon huffed.

"Hmmm, interesting." Edward pondered for a moment. "And what about you, Emily? What happened with you?"

"Same thing happened to me. Thick fog, visibility down to zero, utterly lost. Only, unlike Geordie here, I made contact with Molly." Emily explained.

"You mean contact as in you spoke with the supposed "entity"?" Edward asked.

"No, I made physical contact." Emily corrected him. The engines were somewhat amazed. "See, during the confusion of the fog's sudden appearance, some idiot signalman sent us down the wrong tracks. We couldn't tell if we were going the right way or not. Through the mist, I saw a glimpse of headlights approaching me. I realized that we were actually heading into oncoming railway traffic! I shouted out to my crew _'Stop the bloody train!'_ I heard the engine in front of us slam on its brakes as well. I thought that I was going to plow into whoever was coming, so I shut my eyes and held my breath. Fortunately I was able to stop but I felt the buffers compress. I opened my eyes and I found out I made contact with the other engines buffers. To my absolute horror, I found I was looking upon the face of Molly. Naturally, I was frightened beyond anything, but she looked frightened too. Then, Molly suddenly reversed quickly away back into the mist, leaving me scared stiff. It was then I heard someone screaming, until I realized that I was the one that was actually screaming. Scariest shite I've ever seen." Emily shivered.

"Oooooooh, creepy." Percy was both scared and in awe.

"Och, tell me about it!" Emily sighed. She didn't want to relive the experience again but it was good to get it off her boiler.

"Thank you, my dear Emily. Um, Henry, why don't share with us your fantastic experience." Said Edward.

"Ok, so I was pulling my trademark _Flying Kipper_ train along the main line, right?" Henry began his tale. "Everything was going peachy for me. No delays in loading and unloading, no faulty signals and _NO_ Diesel to contend with." Snorted Henry. Emily looked away; she knew what Henry was talking about. "Anyway, I had just passed Crovan's Gate, briefly exchanging greetings with Fearless Freddie when the fog came down. Like everyone else, I felt like I was wandering aimlessly about. I didn't realize it at first but the signalman had accidentally sent me down the branch line. I steamed passed Ballahoo station before I made it back onto the main line. I soon approached my old tunnel; the fog was getting thicker as I steamed along. Anyway, as I entered the tunnel, my lantern suddenly went out. I had to stop so my driver, Ted, could fix it. It was a serious risk being stationary in a tunnel."

"Your driver's name is Ted?" Percy chimed in. "My driver's name is Ryan." The other engines silently glared at Percy who seemed to shrink smaller than he actually was.

"So, anyway." Henry continued. "Without lighting, I couldn't see if any engines were coming or not, the fog made that problem worse. Worse still, I wasn't sure if either Gordon or Emily could see that I had stopped. Just as my driver fixed the lantern, I saw at the end of the tunnel, an engine approaching. It just seemed to pop out of the mist like a jack-in-the-box. My driver shone my lantern down the length of the tunnel as the engine approached. Surprisingly, it stopped and started to back away, but not before I got look at its face… it was Molly… in the flesh, so to speak. By the time my driver scrambled into the cab and started down the line, she had vanished into the fog. As you can tell, I was shaken up, as was all of us." The engines glanced at each other worriedly.

"Ok, so now we're all in agreement here that what we saw was, indeed, real. Molly is alive and somewhere on this Island." Said Edward, the others agreed without question.

"Took you bastards long enough." James sneered.

"But there is still a burning question here. What's the discerning factor in all of our late night "Molly" run-ins?" Edward pondered for a while. The other engines did the same. Thomas then remembered the story that Toby had told him before. Toby had confided in Thomas that he did not share his ghostly tale with anyone else. Although Thomas didn't want to betray Toby's trust, he was desperate to validate his own experience, so he decided to omit Toby's name from the story. "You know, another engine told me that he had the same late night experience with the, uh, entity."

"Really? Who was it?" Edward inquired.

"I'd rather not say. For the sake of anonymity, let's just call him… Mr. X. Anyway, he told me that he had run into Molly along Gordon's hill. He said something interesting about her appearance. He said that her boiler was bare, no colour what so ever. As if she was rebuilt but not repainted. But he told me that he had recognized the shape of Molly, almost off the bat."

"Let me guess, it was that other old codger Toby, right?" James asked. Thomas was shocked while Edward stared angrily at James. He didn't like being referred to as an old codger one bit. "No offence, Eddie." James smiled nervously.

"How'd you guess that?" Thomas demanded.

"Well, you said that "Mr. X" guessed the engine model almost right off the bat." James explained. "And there's only one other engine on this Island that knows about every single engine model on the planet. Why didn't you tell us his name before hand?"

"I was afraid he'd get mad at me for telling you." Thomas replied. "He confided in me to never tell this to anyone. Besides, if he told anyone, everyone would have thought he was a crazy old man." He sniffed sadly.

"I see." Said Edward, raising his eyebrow. "Was there anything else he mentioned?"

"Yeah. Toby said that he had encountered Molly in thick fog, like everyone else." Thomas finished. Edward processed this for a moment before being struck with a brain-wave.

"I've got it!" he shouted. "The one element that links all our experiences." The other engines listened hard to Edward's theory. "FOG! That's the connection!" The engines all gasped in amazement, they saw it all clearly, aside from Percy who was the only engine to have not seen the "ghost Molly" at all… much to his disappointment.

"Of course! It's her ghost in the fog!" said Gordon loudly.

"I don't get it." Percy chimed softly but none of the others listened to him.

"I get it now." Emily grinned. "All those other times that we ran during clear nights with no fog, we didn't ran into Molly at all."

"Right, because we would have seen her coming from miles away." Henry put in his two cents. "But when the fog came down, it would have provided the perfect cover for her. But why? Why travel during late night hours in a potentially dangerous miasma during those nights?"

"I suggest we find out for ourselves." Edward proposed. "Gentlemen and, uh, lady, I propose that when the next fog hits the Island, we go out and find Molly and put an end to all our unanswered questions about her, once and for all." Edward finished grandly; the other engines looked to one another for a moment. They weren't sure about this bold idea, taking a dangerous risk of venturing into the fog on an equally dangerous "witch hunt."

"A ghost hunt for a non-ghost." Thomas said out loud. "I like the sound of that." It didn't much convincing after that, the engines jumped at the idea. They all agreed that the next time the infamous "Sodor Fog" struck; they would all brave the impossible element and search for their old friend, Molly. "Can I come along your ghost hunt too?" Percy asked with optimism.

"NO!" all the other engines roared in unison. Percy whined and huffed off to sleep. As the day progressed, all the engines went about their daily routines as if nothing was the matter. Percy had his mail service to attend to; Henry had to take more heavy steel to the radio tower construction site near Ballahoo, Emily had her own passenger service and Thomas was helping Rosie with some coal deliveries along the branch line. Each member of the team had informed their respective crews about their plans for a fog-induced ghost hunt. Naturally, they all leapt on the idea, though there was some skepticism that what they were planning to do was dangerous. Plus, they had the Fat Controller to answer to if he got wind of this. So all the engines and crews involved confided amongst themselves to keep this between themselves. Days passed with no incident, the weather was not playing into the engines buffers. The nights were clear and the fog stayed away. The engines waited patiently for the right conditions to begin their search, so much so it made their coupling rods seize up with the tension. Most engines even volunteered to work the night shift just to see if they were lucky enough to run into Molly. They weren't successful, the added stress and sleep deprivation was eating at them like rust on a scrapped engine.

Finally, on one cold night, the forecast called for fog. The Fat Controller had commended the engines for their extremely high work commitments and decided to give them the night off. All night services would be given to other members of the Island of Sodor family. BoCo had been given the opportunity of a lifetime; he was to pull Gordon's trademark night express. It was something he was deeply looking forward to. In fact, BoCo bragged endlessly to his gal-pal, Pip, about his important assignment. Arthur was to take the _Flying Kipper_ in Henry's place, a gracious honour for Arthur indeed. Diesel was to take some special equipment to the Sodor Construction site building the "secret project". He hated the idea of working in the wee hours of the night; he was hoping to spend some time with his girlfriend, Emily. She had told Diesel that she had something important to tell him, but decided to wait until the morning to tell him. As the night shift set off for their work details, the engines were raring to go. Their crews secretly scurried into sheds and fired up their engines. Anticipation hung in the air. The engines were about to leave Tidmouth shed when Karen the Goth engine steamed in, they were surprised to see her. "Hey dudes, I heard you're going on a ghost hunt." She puffed. The engines were more surprised.

"How'd you know about that?" Gordon asked.

"Percy told me, he said he wasn't allowed." She answered. The other engines stared angrily at Percy. "Did he really?" Gordon grumbled.

"Hey, it was her fault." Percy chuffed in his own defense. "She promised to give me more coffee, which I've still haven't got yet." He peeped angrily.

"In good time, young Percival. Anyway, can I tag along with you, Henry?" Karen posed the question to her older brother.

"Why?" Henry wondered.

"Well, I just loves me ghost huntin'. And I've been told that a lot of crazy shit happens here at night in this place." Karen chuckled. The others conferred with each other.

"Oh, very well, you can come along." Henry spoke to Karen. She was visibly delighted. "Excellent!" she tooted, giggling like a school girl. This made the engines nervous. Well, not so much nervous, as in freaked out. Sure enough, the armada of engines set out into the night to hunt for the elusive "ghost Molly". All except Percy, of course, who had his imposed "nap time." He was not happy about being left behind by this compatriots, he hated the idea of being the runt of the litter. Still, Percy had no choice but to comply.

"I want cream and two sugars with my coffee." Percy called out from his berth. Karen tooted in response before disappearing into the night. Percy settled in for the night and huffed off to sleep.

_Tonight's the night; we shall put a stop to this madness._

_My comrades bringeth their lights to break the murkiness._

_We shall search on every track and every shed._

_No rest for the weary, there won't be any time for bed._

_Come out, come out, Molly, and end the craziness._

As the cavalcade of engines steamed out of Tidmouth, they all split up and steamed separately along the different routes. This way they covered more ground effectively, increasing the chance of finding Molly. But this meant they were out of contact with each other, a somewhat unpredicted flaw in Edward's plan. Just as the forecast had predicted, the infamous "Sodor Fog" started to roll in. The fog grew progressively worse until it blotted out the moonlight. None of the engines were scared this time; they were counting on the fog to rear its ugly murkiness. The hunt was on. "Perfect." Edward mumbled to himself.

"Come out, come out…" Emily chuffed bravely.

"… where ever you are." Gordon muttered as he steamed carefully into the mist. The engines surged forward in their search, their powerful headlamps tried to pierce through the thick miasma that covered the Island from mountain tops to deep valleys. Thomas checked along his branch-line. The mist added such a creepy atmosphere to his search that it made Thomas shiver with fear. To maintain his composure, Thomas began to sing the lyrics to John Lennon's _Imagine_. His crew sung along too, they we're scared by the creepy atmosphere too. Thomas' singing seemed to calm himself down, but with every strange sound that seemed to come from nowhere, Thomas shivered harder. "I can do this, I can do this." He muttered to himself. "Oh God, I hope I can do this." Thomas couldn't let the fear get to him, but it was getting to him.

Meanwhile, Henry and Karen were searching along the mainline leading to Wellsworth station. Karen's death metal blared from her cabin. Ironically, the soundtrack she chose for the evening was _Her Ghost in the Fog_, a creepy metal classic. Henry was distracted by the death metal; he couldn't concentrate on what he was doing. What's more, he didn't see the need to play such music during a ghost hunt. "Would you mind turning that down? I can't hear myself puff!" Henry bellowed to his sister in black.

"Sorry bro." Karen puffed. Her driver, Glen, turned down the volume on the CD player.

"That's better." Said Henry, squinting hard as the fog rolled in thicker.

"So, what kind of ghost are we searching for?" Karen asked curiously. "Is you typical earthbound specter or some kind of malevolent demon?" Henry brushed off that rather morbid question. He was quite used to Karen's dark little rants by now. They were not as violent and dark as the ones she spouted when her attitude was problematic but they just as morbid.

"Neither." Henry admitted to her. "And, to tell you the truth, we're not really searching for a ghost. At least, that's what we believe."

"So what are we searching for?" Karen asked.

"Molly." Henry replied spookily. Karen was astounded.

"Uh, pardon me, but didn't you tell before that she was, like, dead?" Karen wondered.

"Yeah, but was before we all saw her for ourselves. And by the way, you were right not to judge Edward right away. How'd you know he was telling the truth?" Henry inquired.

"Experience. I've had an interesting life." Karen enlightened. "Say, tell me this. If this Molly character is still alive, does the Fat Controller even know or is there something more to this?" she wondered.

"I don't know. We'll just have to find out when we catch our old friend." Henry sighed and slowly continued with the search. As Henry and Karen steamed carefully down the line, they spotted headlights approaching. "I can see someone approaching." Henry spoke up.

"Is it her?" Karen asked inquisitively.

"Could be." Henry answered. "Bring out the nets and tasers. We're gonna wrestle us up an engine." Henry muttered in a dark little hillbilly accent. As the two brave Black Fives powered through the mist, the oncoming engine drew closer. The anticipation was killing the two engines, were they going to make contact with the "specter Molly"? Then, out of the mist… appeared Diesel with his late night service. Henry groaned in disappointment as Diesel slithered angrily right by him. The hostility between the engines was very clear. "Salutations, comrade Diesel." Henry murmured as Diesel rattled by.

"Greetings, filthy hippie." Diesel sneered at Henry.

"Run into any ghosts and goblins?" Karen chuffed.

"Get lost, Elvira." Diesel hissed angrily. Karen seethed with anger.

"Ooooh, he's so gonna pay for that." Karen grumbled darkly, she was already planning to pay him back… with something painful.

"Ignore him, he's a twat." Henry assured his seething sister. "He's nothing compared to us. We're better than him, remember that. Come on." He urged and continued to steam down the line. The two engines then switched tracks down the branch line down to Suddery station. Further down the mainline, Gordon was powering through the fog like a man on fire, looking long and hard through the miasma. "There's no point in hiding any more, my dear." Gordon muttered to himself.

"We just want you home, sweetie. That's all we want." His driver advised him to slow down, but Gordon wouldn't listen. Against his drivers wishes and his own sense of safety, Gordon thundered blindly along the track. He tried to kept a sharp eye out for danger but the fog got into his eyes, making them sting. He truly was running blind. Gordon felt the tracks shift underneath his wheels, he wondered if a signalman had sent him down a different set of tracks, but then thought differently. He soon found out as Gordon noticed a set of headlights coming towards him. "Oh shit, someone's on my line! STOP!" he thundered as his driver slammed hard on the brakes. The engine bearing down also slammed on its brakes. Gordon shut his eyes, expecting the worse. Luckily, both engines came to a stop before hitting one another. Gordon opened his eyes carefully. "BoCo?" he was surprised.

"Out of my way, Gordon." BoCo grumbled. "Important express coming through."

"What you doing on my line? Step aside." Boomed Gordon.

"For your information, you're on _my_ line!" BoCo corrected him. "This track is for homebound traffic."

"It is?" Gordon wondered.

"YES!" BoCo thundered. Gordon surveyed the line and found out BoCo was right. Gordon was deeply embarrassed. He blushed.

"Oh, sorry, old chap." He tried to cover up his mistake. "Must have been the fog. Engines can get lost in this mess, don't you know?"

"Yeah, well it better not happen again." BoCo sniffed. "Its confusion like this that can leave the Fat Controller with egg on his face. Now, go on, Gordon. Move aside, I cannot be late." Gordon slowly backed up until he reached a set of points. As he switched tracks, he flagged BoCo by who honked an exasperated toot to him. As BoCo disappeared into the mist, Gordon's driver spoke sternly to his engine. "You see what you almost done? You almost caused an accident with your headstrongness, embarrassed yourself in front of your regular passengers and pissed off a good friend. All in all, a pretty terrible night so far." Gordon went redder than ever."Now, let's keep this search of yours going, my wife will probably kill me if she knew what I was doing." He grumbled angrily as he stepped back into the cab. He pulled back on the throttle and _slowly_ crept along the line. The other engines involved in the search weren't doing so well either. Emily had steamed as far as the Smelters Yard in the Other Railway. It was there that Emily accidentally ran across 'Arry and Bert, who were sharing an unfeasibly large cigarette. Their drivers helped them in that regard. The two diesels were surprised to see Emily in the yard and immediately put on their hard-arse act. "What the bloody hell do you want?" 'Arry asked with a sinister tone.

"Oh, uh… uh… I was… I was…" Emily shivered.

"Speak up, honey. We can't hear you up in Gay fuckin' Paris." Bert guffawed. The two diesels cackled like hyenas. Emily's face turned a nasty shade of red.

"I was only looking for a friend of mine, but it's obvious to me that the only engines I've found here are a couple of unkempt, loudmouthed, sexist bastards." Emily growled. The two diesels were unfazed.

"Well piss off then. We're on our break." 'Arry snarled.

"Fine, I will." Whistled Emily angrily and she stormed out of the Smelter's Yard in a huff. In her mind, she was making a decision about something. Something that was plaguing her for a long time. "Bloody diesels." She said to herself.

"Bloody steam engines." Bert sniffed and went back to his cigarette. Meanwhile, James traveled along the branch that leads to the Culdee Fell Railway. He had never met any of the engines of this particular line, nor had most of the engines on the North Western Railway. James reached Kirk Machan station when he saw two of the most amazing looking engines he had ever seen. James got a chance to meet Culdee and Patrick, just a couple of the engines that were running on the mountain line. They were chatting amongst themselves at the platform when they saw James approach with caution. "Good evening to you." Culdee graciously said to him. "I don't believe we've met before."

"No we haven't. I'm James." he courteously introduced himself.

"A pleasure to meet you. I'm Culdee and this is Patrick."

"Hello." Patrick spoke up. "What brings you here to our humble little railway?"

"Oh, I'm looking for an old friend. She's seems to be… lost." James sighed.

"Hmm, sorry to hear that." Said Culdee.

"It's ok. Say, you two haven't seen anything suspicious happening around here, have you?" The two mountain engines looked at each other.

"Suspicious? How?" Patrick asked.

"Like have you seen any engines you haven't seen steam by here or anything?" James asked. The two mountain engines thought for a moment.

"No, I'm afraid we haven't." Culdee chuffed sadly. "We don't get many visitors as of late. The railways moving kind of slow."

"Oh dear, that's terrible." James said with pity in his boiler.

"It's not so bad." Patrick puffed. "We still have our regular passenger services to run, the usual flock of tourists and all that. It's just they don't come as often as they used to." There was an obvious sadness in his voice. James couldn't help but feel sorry for them, but he had to keep going with his search for Molly. "Hey, look guys, I hate to cut and run here but I have to return to my search. It's vital." He chuffed.

"Hey, don't go yet, my friend." Said Culdee. "We were just exchanging stories from the old days. Please, sit with us and share with us your life story."

"I'd love to stay and swap stories here, but my friend… she must be found. She's… very important to me… and my friends." James didn't want to leave, but he had to. His friends were counting on him to continue his search.

"We understand. Perhaps some other time then?" Patrick smiled.

"I guess so." James smiled back. "Good evening to you both." He tooted goodbye and steamed off down the line.

"I hope you find who you're looking for." Culdee called out.

"I do too." James called back as he steamed into the thick fog, leaving this little isolated part of Sodor behind him. Edward, the mastermind behind the search, wasn't having the best of luck. Along his long, perilous search, he accidentally ran into all the engines pulling the night shift. He almost collided into Arthur with his _Flying Kipper_ run, he was verbally assaulted by Diesel and he accidentally delayed BoCo's passenger service. BoCo was most annoyed, for the second time during that night; he was delayed again by another late night ghost hunter. He was becoming very pissed off; he was desperate to prove to the Fat Controller that he was capable of pulling passenger trains effectively as he does with trucks. The Fat Controller had told BoCo that if he did well, then he would grant BoCo a chance to pull passenger services on a regular basis. Being held up by engines popping out of the fog would not go in his favour. Going back to Edward, he was steaming along the branch line when he reached the Arlesdale Railway, Island of Sodor's own miniature railway. Edward asked the engines on duty if they had seen anything unusual. Unfortunately, none of them did. Edward was feeling dejected and tired. His somewhat brilliant plan was going awry; he was hoping that he would somehow run into Molly and bring her back, but it seemed that wasn't going to happen. Feeling weary from the exhaustive search and suffering from the effects of sleep deprivation, Edward decided to head back to Knapford to regroup and rest up. His plan was that if any at all engines were unsuccessful in their part of the search, they would double-back and regroup at the station.

As Edward approached Knapford, he could see that all of his compatriots were waiting at the platforms and sidings, cold and miserable from their ultimately unrewarding hunt. "Any luck?" Edward asked optimistically.

"No luck, I'm afraid." Gordon chuffed sadly.

"Nothing." Emily puffed.

"Absolute bollocks." Henry sniffed.

"Same here." Karen chimed in.

"Nothing relating to our search, I'm afraid." Said James, he was still thinking of the Culdee Fell Railway. He was contemplating at how sad the engines must be feeling from the dropping rate of tourists to their line.

"I saw nothing but this stupid fog." Thomas shivered. "Abso-fucking-lutely nothing."

"Well, nothing from my end, either. Except for two unhappy night engines and a not-so nice parting comment from Diesel, it's all been fruitless." Edward sighed; the exhaustion was visibly getting to him. Yet, in his mind, Edward couldn't rest until he found what he was looking for, even if it meant risking his own health and sanity. "Ok, what we should do is rest up a bit, fill back up with the essentials and set out on different routes again. We must leave no stone unturned this time."

"This is pointless." Gordon sniffed. "We're never going to find Molly in this mess. We almost got ourselves killed from all this searching, not to mention the lack of sleep, the aggravation and the embarrassment that was caused to the railway. I say that we head home, get some much needed sleep and start again when the night is not so threatening." As callous as Gordon's statement was, the other engines reluctantly agreed. They weren't doing themselves any good steaming around in the miasma that surrounded them, not to mention the damage they were doing to themselves. The engines decided to call it a night, except for Edward. "But we can't quit now, we just need to double our efforts… and a hell of a lot of coffee."

"Leave my coffee out of this." Karen chuffed.

"Even if we wanted to continue with this search." Emily solemnly spoke. "We'd be doing ourselves a great deal of damage. Not just physically, but mentally too."

"She's right." Thomas agreed. "I don't know if I even want to go back out there again. I've been scared enough times, thank you very much."

"But if we just-" Edward wasn't listening to reason.

"Look at yourself, Edward." Gordon bellowed. "You're clearly exhausted and loosing your mind. You need your rest. You're not a young engine, anymore."

"Don't patronize me, you over-grown drunkard!" Edward snapped.

"Over-grown drunkard?" Gordon was taken aback. "Now look here!" The engines soon exploded into a vicious argument, everyone was talking over each other. The incredible noise of angry voices reverberated through the station, creating such a ruckus. The Fat Controller was stirred from his paper work by the noise. He grabbed his hat and a bullhorn and stormed out of his office. He stalked to the end of the platform, put the bullhorn to his lips and let out a mighty roar. "STOP THIS NOISE AT ONCE!" The engines all quieted down, they had awoken a sleeping giant… or maybe the Hulk. "What's all this commotion? I've been getting complaints that my engines are running rampant in the fog like headless chooks, causing massive delay and what not. This is most unbecoming of a railway and it's unacceptable. Explain yourselves!" The engines once again talked at the same time, the Fat Controller couldn't get a straight answer from any of them and he was getting annoyed. "SILENCE!" he snapped furiously. The engines held their tongues, shivering in fear. They had never seen Sir Topham Hatt this mad before, nor did they want to. The Fat Controller took a deep breath to calm down. "Ok, one at a time, please."

"Sir, my friends and I were embarking on a mission of the utmost importance." Edward spoke first.

"What sort of mission?" The Fat Controller asked.

"The search for Molly." Edward informed. The Fat Controller was amazed and confused.

"I beg your pardon?" he wondered.

"A search for Molly, sir." Thomas answered.

"Ever since that day you told us that she went away, we all thought the worst." James remarked sadly. "We thought she was truly gone."

"That was until we started to see her… in the steel, so to speak." Henry added.

"At night, when the Sodor Fog wafts in, Molly returns from the proverbial woodwork." Said Gordon spookily.

"At first, we thought it was perhaps her ghost." Thomas enlightened. "But then through some unforeseen instances and carefully deductions, we've concluded that she is somehow alive and somewhere in this place."

"We've all seen her scurrying around the Island like a lost soul. All of us." Emily enlightened.

"So, I came up with the idea of a, ahem, "non-ghost hunt", to track down our supposedly long dead friend and bring her back." Edward admitted.

"I tagged along because I have some knowledge on the paranormal and thought maybe I could help." Karen chuffed. The Fat Controller couldn't comprehend what he was hearing. He was trying to make sense of this. "My dear engines, what on earth are you talking about?" he wondered.

"Sir, you don't have to hide this from us. We know she's out there." Edward puffed.

"Believe me, I don't know what any of you lot are on about." Sir Topham said sternly.

"You really don't know what we mean?" Thomas was puzzled.

"No, I don't. And James, what did you mean by "truly gone"?" The Fat Controller asked.

"I meant that when you said "she went away", we thought she was dead." Said James sadly.

"Dead?" Sir Topham was taken aback.

"Yes, sir." Said James. Then Sir Topham Hatt thought back to that day he told the engines about Molly and her accident. He then remembered the glum atmosphere on Sodor that followed. He figured that the engines just missed seeing Molly, not realizing they were actually mourning. He then understood what his engines meant. Sir Topham slapped his forehead and laughed. He realized that his engines had gravely misinterpreted him. "I'm afraid you engines misunderstood me." Now it was the engines who didn't comprehend what Sir Topham was saying, they exchanged odd looks with each other.

"Follow me, if you please." Sir Topham spoke calmly. He waddled over to his blue Morris Minor and stepped in. He then motioned the engines to follow him. The armada of steam engines was soon led to a large shed at The Works. Many of the engines had some time or another, come here to be maintained and overhauled whenever their parts started to wear out or needed repairing. The Fat Controller parked his Morris and walked over to the shed. "What's going on? Why have you brought us here?" Thomas asked.

"All will be revealed." The Fat Controller smiled. He then disappeared through the side door. The engines didn't know what was going to happen. They saw the lights flicker on from inside. The large shed door started to open; The Fat Controller was having trouble opening it all on his own, so some of the engine crews hurried over to help him. All the engines gasped. There she was, their old friend Molly, sitting alone in a berth. Her brilliant yellow paint work glistened under the powerful lights. She was a little surprised to see her old friends again, looking back at her in amazement. "Ah poo." Karen muttered to herself, she was expecting a ghost or something. Maybe next time. "My God! It truly _is_ you." Said Gordon in shock.

"The lost soul of Sodor. She's finally found." Emily squeaked.

"Hello, my friends." Molly peeped; a nervous little smile grew on her face.

"Surely, I must be dreaming." Thomas wasn't registering this at all.

"No, you're not dreaming, young Thomas." Sir Topham Hatt laughed. "What you are seeing is the genuine article."

"But we all saw her being hauled away on a flatbed." Thomas remembered. "I remember she was covered with a tarpaulin. We thought she was dead."

"Yes, I'm very sorry if you got the wrong impression with what you saw. I should have explained it too you all earlier." Said The Fat Controller. "God, I can't hardly imagine the pain you engines must have went through in those months."

"You're damn right, sir!" James snapped. "I left flowers for Molly at the crash sight. I couldn't stop crying for a long time."

"That's so sweet of you." Molly cried a little.

"I said a little prayer for you." Thomas peeped sadly. "I kept thinking that this wasn't true, that you couldn't be dead. I couldn't accept it, and yeah, the pain was bloody terrible."

"I wanted to say how sorry I was for breaking things off with you." Said Gordon, he was starting to cry a little too. He didn't know whether to feel sad or happy to see Molly again.

"I know, Gordon. I know." Molly chuffed.

"I had the strangest dreams featuring you, Molly." Henry spoke up. "I kept waking up thinking that you were alive, but the truth always struck me. I brushed them off as being merely dreams, but my mind kept telling me that there was something more to them. I wanted to believe." A sooty tear trickled down Henry's cheek.

"I've never met you before, but from what my brother here told me, you were a valued asset to the railway." said Karen.

"I couldn't focus on my work." Edward spoke up. "All those times I remembered coming to your shed to console your broken heart, it tore me up. You felt so empty and alone. I felt the same thing, the emptiness and depression. I was afraid it would eat me alive." Edward cried.

"I couldn't handle the incredible sadness in my boiler. I felt like it was about to tear me apart." Emily sniffed. "I always felt that we were more like sisters then anything else, although I thought I would never get the chance to admit that to you." Molly almost started to cry, she had never this much emotion before, especially from her friends. Throughout her time on Sodor, Molly often felt out of place and sometimes, she felt so alone. This was especially so after her breakup with Gordon, the loneliness and feelings of abandonment almost got to her. But she saw how much her friends cared for her, even as her pain ate through her systems like a virus. Molly was so amazed by this show of emotion that she could hardly speak. "How did you even survive your plunge?" Gordon broke the short silence. Molly opened her mouth to answer.

"It's alright, my dear." The Fat Controller stopped her. "Let me explain. When I heard that Molly had become a runaway and had an accident, I assumed that it was nothing serious. But when I was told that she had plunged off the viaduct and into the river, I thought the worst. I actually thought that Molly was killed. I went down to ground zero to survey the salvage job. As the cranes pulled her out of the water, I found to my horror that Molly had survived her fall. Air had become trapped in her boiler, giving her something to breathe as she lay on the bottom. I was relived to see that she was alive, but she was badly damaged from the impact."

"Don't remind me." Molly cringed. "It was hard enough to come out a fall like that and survive, but to come out of it looking like death was one thing I couldn't deal with."

"It must have been awful." James peeped.

"Like you wouldn't believe." Molly sniffled.

"Anyway, I had sent out for an aerial crane to lift Molly back into the rails." The Fat Controller continued. "It was lucky that we had just received shipment of a Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane, fresh from the factory. Looking at Molly's broken boiler, I then realized that her wheels were too badly damaged to be used, so I sent The Works Diesel to grab a long flat bed truck to haul her away. I remember before the Skycrane arrived, Molly said something to me. Do you remember, as well?"

"Yes I do, actually." Said Molly. "It's forever etched into my memory. I said to you, "I don't want the others to see me like this." So you had the workmen cover me up with a tarpaulin before I was lifted onto that flatbed. Guess that caused an ill effect."

"But why ask to be covered up?" Henry asked.

"I wanted to spare you guys the horror of seeing me so banged up." Molly answered.

"But we're your friends, Molly." Said Thomas. "We would have understood that you were banged up and what not. We've all had accidents that we're embarrassed about or afraid to relive." The other engines collectively agreed, all of them looking away in embarrassment.

"No, not like mine." Molly chuffed, biting her bottom lip.

"Yes, it was traumatic to say the least. After having the Skycrane lift her onto the flatbed, I ordered The Works Diesel to deliver Molly to the Works. From the initial inspections, it seemed that Molly's brakes had worn out. Indeed, it was speculated that she became a runaway because of the faulty brakes, so our suspicions were confirmed."

"Ha! I knew it was the brakes all along, but they believed that it was I sent you to your death." Gordon huffed. The engines glared at him for a moment. "What?" Gordon gulped.

"Anyway." The Fat Controller continued. "The engineers weren't optimistic at first when it came to rebuilding Molly. They had never seen an engine so badly damaged before, but I urged them to do the absolute best they could. I spared no expense in having Molly completely repaired. Mind you, with the amount of damage sustained, it would have taken a long time to repair her."

"I spent so many months in this place." Molly butted in. "I felt a new kind of pain as I sat in this very berth. The painful feeling of my boiler being stripped down and slowly built, piece by piece. Seeing all my vital components being taken apart, refurbished or replaced was the most intense and horrific experience I've ever encountered." Molly sniffed. She didn't want to remind herself of that pain. The engines felt pity for her, their emotional pain was one thing but to feel the physical pain of it all would have been overwhelming.

"But I remained optimistic." Molly continued. "I kept thinking of the end product of this whole ordeal. I kept dreaming of Sodor, even when I was awake. The looks on my friends faces when they saw me come back to work, stronger than ever, was what I was looking forward to. Every night and every day, I burned to come back as soon as I could. But my repair was lengthy, the process long and slow."

"Only to be sure that the engineers were thorough in their repair work. I couldn't have a fully repaired engine come back with some teething problems. I ordered them to take their time." The Fat Controller clarified.

"Did you also order the nightly runs, sir?" Thomas asked curiously.

"I ordered no such runs to take place." Said The Fat Controller. "It would have been dangerous and unnecessary."

"It was my fault, sir." Molly explained. "For months, I was cooped up in this place for so long that I thought I couldn't handle it. So I asked my driver to take me on nightly runs to clear my head and give my systems a good test. It was my idea to run in the fog, not his."

"Because you didn't want to be seen yet?" Henry wondered.

"Yes, exactly." Molly answered. "I wanted to wait until I was completed first before I saw any of you again. Huh, seems my plan didn't work. Sorry if I scared any of you." She gave a small laugh. The engines smiled back, apart from Karen. A thought snuck into her head.

"Uh, Sir Topham." She spoke up.

"Yes, what is it?" Sir Topham asked.

"You brought me to this railway because you were shorthanded of engines. When Molly comes back into the fold, does this mean you will no longer be requiring my services?" Karen asked. The other engines suddenly had the same thoughts too. They had gotten used to Karen's company and they felt she was very much part of the railway. It would have been a shame if they saw her leave. Henry couldn't bare the thought of loosing his sister, not after all the times they had spent together as a family.

"Nonsense." The Fat Controller smiled. "You have proven yourself worthy of being part of my railway. You're a part of Sodor now, this is your home." The engines smiled brightly, as did Karen.

"Thank you, sir." She chuffed.

"Anyway." The Fat Controller cupped his hands. "I hope this puts all of your worries behind you. They'll be no more of this foolish running around in the fog aimlessly, no more silly tales of ghosts and strange happenings and what not. Let us all put this to rest." He then inspected his watch. It was approaching the witching hour.

"And speaking of rest, you engines could sure use some rest. You all look terrible." Sir Topham laughed, he wasn't kidding about the engines looking terrible. Some of them had bags under their eyes.

"Uh, one more thing. When will you come back to work, Molly?" James wondered.

"Not for a few days yet, I'm afraid." Molly said sadly.

"There are still some things to work out." The Fat Controller added. "But I can assure you all, she'll come back soon. Very soon." The engines then said their goodbyes to their friend and started to head back to Tidmouth sheds. Gordon didn't feel like going back to the sheds, he could sense how lonely and isolated poor Molly was feeling being stuck in the Works shed for so long.

"Sir, can I stay here for the night?" Gordon asked the Fat Controller. "I don't want Molly to sleep alone tonight."

"Of course." The Fat Controller smiled as he stepped into his Morris Minor. Gordon's crew put out his fire and left in the Sir Topham's car. Gordon sat with Molly the whole night, regaling her with stories of what happened during her absence from regular service. Gordon recounted fantastic stories of the engines current relationships and other mishaps, such as Henry revitalizing himself after his break up with Emily. It was a long time since Molly had actually talked to any of the engines. She missed them terribly and wanted to see them all again. All that was left for Molly was time to wait.

A new day dawned on the Island of Sodor. The fog had burned off in the morning sun once again revealing a beautiful blue sky. News had spread throughout the engine grapevine about Molly's impending return. Most of the engines didn't believe what they were told. They thought it was nothing but the demented rants of their sleep deprived comrades. Most of the Sodor population still believed that Molly was truly dead. They were reluctant about thinking otherwise, having made peace with their own pain. They didn't want that pain to bleed out again, which was understandable in the eyes of the other engines. Sure enough, a few days passed and Molly finally returned from the Works to great fanfare from her friends and citizens of Sodor. Skeptics became believers when they saw her steam by them. They were surprised to see her alive, but more to the point; they were overjoyed to see her back. Molly was glad to be back at work on Sodor, she didn't waste any time getting back in the groove of things. Molly's life on Sodor had never been so bright and wonderful; she never takes her life for granted any more. She embraces everything about her beautiful home and all those that cared for her. As for the others on Sodor, their lives have never been better as well. Despite a troubled night run, BoCo had proven himself worthy enough to pull express services on a regular basis. The passengers all thought BoCo was wonderful and certainly a lot less "up-himself" like Gordon. The Fat Controller awarded BoCo a regular express service for his efforts. BoCo had never stopped smiling since. James hadn't forgotten about his new friends at the Culdee Fell Railway. He had made a promise to them that he'd return and that's exactly what he did. After completing a long run of transporting dynamite to the China Clay Railway, James coupled up to a pair of coaches packed to capacity with tourists and puffed towards Kirk Machan station.

When James finally reached the station, he saw Culdee and Patrick from the night before along with Alaric and Eric, the more recent additions to the mountain engine team. James gave a friendly toot as he puffed to a stop. "Hello again." He greeted Culdee warmly.

"Well, it's good to see you again, my friend." Culdee chuffed with a wide grin.

"I'd told you I'd come back." James smiled.

"I figured you would." Patrick smirked. "Hey, Alaric and Eric. This was the engine we told you about." Alaric and Eric peeped hello to their visiting engine.

"What brings you back to our humble abode?" Culdee inquired. "Come to share with us your life story?"

"That and I brought you guys something." James smiled proudly. The tourists all stepped out of the coaches and began to marvel at the amazing looking engines on the mountain railway. The mountain engines were delighted at the sudden influx of tourists; they couldn't make heads or tails of it. "I told them about this place. They were hoping to see it for themselves." The mountain engines smiled widely. They had never seen such generosity and thoughtfulness before. "We can't thank you enough!" Patrick beamed.

"Please, it's my pleasure." James smiled. As the tourists explored the scenery, James amused the mountain engines about his colourful life story. He even told about his most embarrassing moments on the North Western Railway, such as the time he crashed into a train of tar wagons and the time he had damaged his coaches which required a bootlace to repair it. James never liked to relive those sorts of embarrassing moments, but he thought the mountain engines were so friendly that he couldn't help but share them. But the most wonderful life story James told the mountain engines was that of Molly. He told about her devastating accident, her long and arduous rebuild and her rise from the ashes. The mountain engines were captivated by James' words, at how important she was to the railway and how she meant to everyone on the Island. Culdee wanted to meet Molly for himself, James promised to bring her by someday. After all, he did promise to come back to Culdee Fell, did he? Karen the Goth Engine did keep her part of the bargain to Percy for telling her about the ghost hunt. She brought Percy a tanker truck of coffee, just like she promised him. Sure, the caffeine was still a little too much for him, but Percy enjoyed it immensely. Percy now drinks coffee religiously; he even shares it with his friend Thomas, who seems to handle the caffeine hit better than Percy. The engines still often pull night shifts, yet they opted to avoid any foggy conditions as best they could. They also never slept so well at nights, no longer worrying about ghost engines or things that go toot in the night. Henry and Arthur now work hand in hand when working the _Flying Kipper _service. Arthur primarily works as a back engine when the load gets too heavy for Henry. As for Diesel, he and Emily finally got a chance to speak to one another. Emily was still itching to tell her important news to Diesel. It wasn't something that Diesel was expecting, but that's another story. It's seems life on Sodor had never looked brighter, especially for their once lost soul, Molly. She's never been happier to be home again.

_My time on Sodor is grand, I've enjoyed it well._

_So many friends to call upon, I give 'em a bell._

_My pain, it stops, with every wonderful sight. _

_I have so many adventures I have yet to write._

_This is one of them; it's a grand tale to tell._


	4. Chapter 4: Cat Scratch Fever

**Chapter 4: Cat Scratch Fever (Simple Lies)**

To the engines on the Island of Sodor, the concepts of love and relationships are not foreign to them. Most of the engines have actively dated at some point or another, some of them still do. The Fat Controller was not averse to having his engines engage in a relationship of any sort, in fact, he encouraged the notion… among other things. With the changing times, The Fat Controller reveled in the idea of the engines exploring the idea of engaging in a relationship. However, not all the engines were successful in maintaining any form of relationship, the prime example being the self-confessed, former hypochondriac engine Henry. He and Emily were involved in a serious liaison for a very long time. They were practically in love each other, spending a lot of their free time with each other. But when things fizzled between, Emily hooked with Diesel while Henry underwent a long period of soul searching that saw him rebirth himself as a stronger engine. Ever since then, Henry had remained a bachelor, which was his choice. Although he wasn't actively dating, Henry wasn't exactly alone. He was often seen spending time with his sister Karen, the self-declared Goth engine. Even though Henry enjoys her company, he sometimes wonders if he should get back into the dating game, yet Karen always brought him back down to Earth. She gave Henry a little piece of advice, acting as worldly as ever. "There are two things in this world that I know. One: All women are bitches. And two: David Lee Roth is a wuss." Henry understood the former but not the latter.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Henry wondered.

"I don't know. But now that I've told you, will you ever forget it?" said Karen. As much as Henry enjoyed his sisters company, he yearned for company other than familial.

One glorious day on Sodor, Henry was pulling a short passenger service along Thomas' branch line. He pulled into Elsbridge station right on time. Henry was having a wonderful run, the day was absolutely beautiful. Though Henry was feeling a little arthritic in his pistons, he didn't feel the need to complain. Nothing was going to spoil his trouble free run. At least, that's what he thought. As Henry waited to collect more passengers, along came Emily with her passenger service. The two engines had since rebuilt their friendship from the ground up, though there was still some uneasiness between them. Perhaps it was the surreal way the relationship ended or the psychotic possessiveness of Diesel in keeping his relationship. Either way, there were still some unresolved issues. "Hello, Henry." Emily called to Henry as she came to a stop.

"Hey there, Emz." Henry chuffed in response.

"How are you doing?" Emily asked cheerfully.

"Not too bad." Henry responded. "Just feeling a touch arthritic. I might have a fracture in my pistons or something."

"Oh dear, maybe you need a trip to the Works." Emily said with pity.

"Yeah, perhaps I should." Henry sniffed. The two engines then feel silent. A familiar awkwardness had returned. Henry and Emily's respective crews could feel the tension.

"Whoa, talk about déjà vu." Henry's driver, Ted, whispered to the fireman. The fireman, Phillip, responded with an uncomfortable nod. The two big engines couldn't find the words to talk to one another, even if things were being patched up. "Dude, this is crazy." Henry broke the silence. "What's happened between us? We used to able to each other about anything, not just small talk, but about everything. I mean, just because you have a boyfriend, doesn't mean that we can't still talk to each other as civilized engines, right?"

"Err, right." Emily answered.

"And speaking of boyfriends, where the hell does Diesel get off telling me that I can't speak to my friends, or even still, my ex-girlfriends? Its bullshit, I tell you. And if I…" Just then, Henry was interrupted by a familiar sound. It was Diesel's signature toot; he was hauling a long train of road working equipment from the Sodor Construction Company to the new "secret" construction site. Henry groaned in discontent as Diesel slowly rattled towards the station.

"Oh great, here comes comrade Diesel." Henry muttered angrily. "I wasn't talking to your girl, I swear by the Gods of Olympus." He said aloud, but Diesel didn't listen. He just rattled on by, practically oblivious to the big engines standing by the platforms. In fact, he didn't seem like himself. Henry was a little surprised; he was expecting perhaps a dark little parting comment or something from Diesel. He watched as Diesel slink away. "What? No filthy hippie comment or passing stare down? What's all that about?" Henry wondered.

"Oh forget him." Emily puffed. The station master then blew his whistle and waved his green flag. "Oh, Gods, buggery and bollocks." Emily moaned. "Listen, I should get back to my rail service. I don't want my passengers to be late."

"Yeah, I should head off too." Said Henry. "We should definitely do this again some time. Not the whole sitting in silence crap, but the talking part."

"Sounds like a date." Emily smiled. "Perhaps later we should meet up later."

"Yeah, we should." Henry smiled back.

"Uh, ladies, I hate to break up your idle chatter here but would you both please get a fucking move on, your both late enough as it is." The station master stepped in. Both engines gave friendly toots to one another and set off for their next destinations. Later on, after both engines completed their important work, Henry and Emily met each other again. They agreed that they should meet at the Black Loch castle. There, the engines were talking up a storm about the old times and watching the family of seals frolicking in the lake. They hadn't talked this much together for a long time. They were oblivious to the fact that they were being watched. In the distance, Diesel observed the two big engines talking and laughing amongst themselves. He saw how much fun they were having together and was slightly jealous. He was thinking about the "important news" Emily had told him. It obviously wasn't good news; the expression on his face was like an open book. He shed an oily tear and slinked away unnoticed. Night time feel on Sodor and Henry and Emily hadn't returned from their "date." No one knew where they had gone or even when they would come back. At Tidmouth sheds, the engines were settling in for the night, minus the two missing engines. Molly the Claud Hamilton had stopped by for a visit and was invited to stay the night by the engines. Molly had never been to Tidmouth sheds before, she was rather impressed. "This is so much better than my place." Molly peeped excitedly.

"Really? Where is your shed?" Thomas asked.

"It's some old shed near Knapford along some old tracks." Molly explained.

"Doesn't Karen live in that shed now?" Gordon wondered.

"You mean that Goth engine?" Molly replied. "Yeah, she's my new room mate. She's a nice girl, a little "Emily the Strange" for my tastes, but rather nice. She likes to talk about creepy stuff and play that death rock music loud. I don't know how you managed to put up with her."

"Yeah, well, she was originally a lot worse than that." Edward enlightened.

"Oh?" Molly wondered.

"Yes, she had such an attitude problem." Gordon added. "Quite the little ball of fire. She always seemed to antagonize everyone she came across, even if they were nice to her."

"Really?" Molly was intrigued.

"Yeah, but then she learned the error of her ways and ever since then, she's been part of the family." Thomas smiled.

"Humph, it took a near death experience for her to change." Gordon huffed. Molly gave him a dark look. "Not as traumatic as your incident." Gordon laughed nervously.

"Don't worry if she's a little strange." Thomas smiled. "She'll grow on you in time." Molly wasn't the only invitee to the shed that night. James had invited his boyfriend Murdoch to spend the night. The big engine almost towered over the flamboyant red engine, but that didn't matter to James. "Size doesn't matter to me as long as you have the heart to match." He was heard saying to his enormous significant other. The two seemed really happy together, even the cynical blue LNER engine Gordon had to admit that they were perfect for each other. "You know, hun, if we pull our weight and work hard this week, the Fat Controller will grant us the weekend off. That means we can finally spend time together." Murdoch chuffed proudly. James liked the idea already.

"Sounds cool to me." James lisped. "Any ideas, hun?"

"I heard that the Sodor Sausage Festival is this weekend. We should go to that." Murdoch suggested. James cringed at the idea.

"Nah, the thought of all that highly processed meat makes me gassy." James started to gag from the mere suggestion of it. Murdoch thought for a moment.

"Ok, how about the _Metal in the Mountains Rock Fest_? 30 of the heaviest metal groups to ever hit the Island. And it's at Culdee Fell; your new friends live there, right?"

"I only listen to The Prodigy." James admitted. "Metal really isn't my _thang_."

"Well, I don't know what we should this weekend." Murdoch huffed. "Maybe we should just forget the bloody idea!" He whished angrily.

"Hey, it's cool, sweetie." James lisped softly. "Tell you what we can do. We can just take a steam by the seaside village, relax by the ocean and watch the sunset. Just the two of us, ok?" James smiled brightly. The big orange BR Standard Class 9F perked right up.

"Ok." Murdoch smiled. Soon, the shed was buzzing with the sounds of chatter. Everyone was talking about their day, all of them forgetting about the two missing engines, Henry and Emily. They didn't even care that it was getting late. Well, except one.

"Would you guys please be quiet? I'm trying to sleep!" Percy snapped. He was suffering from the effects of having too much caffeine in his systems. He was barely sleeping, was hyperactive and very irritable. Percy was also visibly shaking from his daily coffee intake. The engines went silent at the sight of Percy. "Sweetie, are you feeling ok?" Molly asked caringly.

"Fine, fine." Percy stammered. "I'm very fine. Now shut up and let me sleep." Percy shut his eyes for only a few seconds before they shot open again. "Can't sleep. Can't sleep. Can't sleep. Need more coffee." Percy babbled. The others were worried.

"Uh, I think you've had too much caffeine for one day, young Percy." Said Edward.

"I have not!" Percy growled, his eyes twitched.

"Yeah, he's right, you know. You shouldn't drink too much coffee, Percy. I heard that stuff stuns your growth." Thomas laughed. Gordon tittered at the thought.

"Too late for him." Gordon chortled. He and Thomas then burst into hysterical laughter. The others, at first, didn't share in with the joke, until they started to laugh as well. All except for Molly, who thought that the idea of making fun of engines was plain childish. "Gordon, that wasn't very nice." Molly chuffed angrily. The others quieted down.

"Oh, come on, darling." Gordon snorted in his defense. "I'm only kidding, he's knows I love him. Right, young Percy?"

"Bite me, dough boy!" Percy looked pissed. "I'll wear you like an afghan, fool."

"Maybe he needs to cut down on the coffee." Murdoch thought out loud.

"My sentiments exactly." Molly agreed. "Starting tomorrow, Percy is cutting caffeine out of his system. We'll slowly wean him of the stuff until he's completely off coffee for good." As bizarre as Molly's suggestion was, the engines all agreed to be part of the plan.

"It won't be easy, my dear." Edward spoke up. "He loves the stuff like coal… and the mail train. He'll probably fight you the whole way."

"Well, we'll have to try. It's for his own good." Said Molly with confidence. The engines looked on as Percy stirred viciously as he tried to sleep. They knew what they had to and it wasn't going to be easy. Meanwhile, Henry and Emily were still talking to one another. They were steaming towards Emily's old shed; they didn't realize that it was getting late when they heard church bells tolling in the distance. The bells ran twelve midnight. "Christ, I didn't realize it was this late." Henry chuffed.

"Damn, so it is." Emily puffed.

"We should probably head back to Tidmouth." Said Henry.

"No, it's too far from here. Besides, we're near my old shed." Said Emily, her driver checked the GPS system. And she was right. Emily's old shed was a few miles up the road, so the two engines decided to spend the night there. "I sure hope there's room at the Inn, Mary." Henry laughed as he steamed down the line.

"I sure hope so, Joseph." Emily chuckled. Their respective crews cringed at such a tasteless joke. Eventually, the two big engines reached the old shed. It had remained empty for a long time ever since Emily moved into Tidmouth sheds, so luckily there was no one else in the shed. The crews parked both engines in the shed, put out their fires and shut off the systems. "Goodnight gentlemen." Henry called to his crew.

"Pleasant dreams, y'all." Ted, the driver, answered. The crews closed the doors and set off for the nearest bus shelter. They were lucky enough to catch Bertie's final Night Rider service for the evening. As the crews left for home, Henry and Emily settled in for the night. It was a long day and they were looking forward to getting some much needed sleep. In the distance, Diesel looked on from the shadows. As much as he tried to avoid the two big engines, he couldn't seem to shake them off his mind. The thought of them two spending time together made the pistons in his motor seize up. It sickened him. He couldn't help but observe their movements. Diesel then snorted and rattled into the night. Morning came on the Island of Sodor; Henry woke up before anyone else. He looked over to Emily who was still fast asleep. Henry couldn't help but stare at her as she slept. She looked so innocent and sweet, quite the juxtaposition to her often bossy and pushy demeanour she exhibited. Henry wondered what an engine like her saw in an engine like himself. Henry couldn't understand it himself; perhaps Emily saw something in him that she found charming, underneath the hypochondria and self-loathing. Or maybe it was pity that drove Emily to him. Henry didn't know the answer to that. But then he remembered that Emily broke up with him because she thought they weren't compatible. This angered Henry quite a bit. He wasn't just angry at Emily, he was angry at himself. Henry often blamed himself for the breakup, because he believed his personality was partly at the cause. He concluded that it was his hypochondria that was at the center of it all; his "disease" as he put it. As he thought about his once damaging "disease", the shed door opened wide and there was Henry's crew. They had arrived bright and early. "Good morning, Henry." Ted, the driver, cheerfully greeted. "Glad to see you're up early."

"Morning, fellas." Henry chuffed unenthusiastically.

"Ready for another day in the grind?" Phillip, the fireman, asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Replied Henry. "But could you keep it down? Emz is trying to sleep." The driver and fireman understood and quietly clambered aboard Henry. His fire was soon lit and Henry slowly built up steam. Ted the driver pulled back on the throttle and Henry slowly backed out of the shed. He then stopped briefly as Phillip the fireman stepped out to shut the shed door. "Can't have her waking up with a chilly tender, eh?" he laughed. As he closed the shed doors, Henry muttered softly, "I still love you, but I also still hate you." As soon as Phillip hopped aboard, Henry was off again to Tidmouth. At Tidmouth sheds, the other engines were preparing to head off for their daily rail services when Henry arrived. The other engines had wondered where he had gone to. "Henry, old chap, where were you?" Gordon inquired.

"Did you suffer from a leaky tube again?" Thomas chuckled.

"No." Henry sniffed. "My tubes are fine. And I, uh, spent some time with a friend."

"It wouldn't happen to be an engine of the, ahem, female persuasion?" Gordon smugly asked, raising an eyebrow.

"As a matter of fact, yes. I spent some time with Emily." Henry informed.

"Ha! I knew it!" Gordon chortled. "Spending the night with the forbidden fruit, eh? I've always wondered if you had the balls to do anything. But to steal Diesel's girl, you must have the balls of an elephant." Gordon cackled. The other engines looked darkly at Gordon. "What?" he sniffed. Henry was indignant, he knew what Gordon was implying and he didn't like it. The mere thought of it sent his boiler pressure sky high.

"For your information, it wasn't a date, fat-face." Henry grumbled. "And I didn't steal Diesel's girlfriend. Why would I? She said that she wants to be friends, that's all. Nothing happened between us." Gordon didn't believe a word of it, he didn't know when to quit.

"Ha! Yeah, right. Just like that thing you had with your "sister" wasn't a date, eh?" Gordon brayed. Everyone recoiled with disgust, Murdoch puked up a big pile of ash. Now Henry was really pissed.

"Ok, first of all, Gordon, EWWWWW. And secondly." Henry whished steam at Gordon, kicking up dust and bugs into Gordon's face. He was very surprised. "You're insane. And thirdly, we're just _friends_, ok? Is that so hard to believe that you can be friends with your ex-girlfriends?"

"I'd like to know the answer to that one." Molly chuffed, raising an eyebrow.

"That's right." Lisped James.

"Are you noisy steamers still talking?" Percy grumbled, shaking on his wheels. "Must have coffee. COFFEE!" he whished loudly. He was shaking so much that his driver and fireman were literally bouncing around in the cab.

"What's the matter with him?" Henry was worried.

"Caffeine withdrawal." Edward informed. "We're trying to wean him off coffee permanently, starting today."

"Coffee." Percy whimpered, his eyes darted around.

"It's about damn time, too." Henry huffed. "I can hardly stand him bouncing around the sheds, screaming like a maniac and all that." Just then, Emily arrived at the sheds, she was full of glee. "Good morning, everyone." She tooted. Everyone glanced around nervously. Thomas whistled a little tune. "What's wrong with them?" Emily asked Henry.

"Ignore them." Henry answered. "They're just being silly. I'm getting the hell out of here." And with that, the big green engine steamed away to the yards. Emily wondered why everyone acted so nervously, but she just steamed off as well to collect her coaches, Martha and Jennifer. The other engines glanced at each other for a moment, each wondering what had really happened between the two engines. All expect for Gordon. He was concerned about his appearance, trying to shake off the dust and bugs that enveloped his face. "Not again." He sniffed. James just laughed. "You're funny when you're like that." But before long, the engines set off for work. All throughout the day, the engines could hardly contain a word about what happened. In their minds, they put two and two together. They couldn't help but gossip with their friends and colleagues. Henry, however, just went about his day, performing his usual duties. First, he had to take some construction workers to the new radio tower near Abbey station, the second radio tower on the Island. He then was to take some ballast to Arlesburgh West for the Arlesdale Railway. As he performed his duties, Henry's friends gave him the strangest looks. Donald and Douglas smirked as Henry passed by them; they had heard about his rendezvous with Emily and were rather impressed. "Och, check it oot, Douggie. Thar goes Henry, tha undisputed player o' Sodor." Donald chuckled to his brother.

"Aye Donal'." Douglas chuckled back. "Its tae bump uglies with Emily, he be wantin'." The Scottish Twins burst into laughter, but Henry had heard everything. He didn't find it at all funny and this made him angry. He wasn't the only one feeling the brunt of the engines misguided gossip, Emily was also given a hard time. As she pulled into Knapford station with her passenger service, James and Murdoch gave her odd looks. "So, Emily." James lisped innocently. "I trust you had a pleasant evening last night." He posed a poorly veiled question.

"What are you on about, James?" Emily wondered.

"Oh, it's just that you didn't come home last night. As did Henry." James answered blissfully. Murdoch snickered slightly.

"We just spent the night talking to one another." Emily said rather gruffly. "We haven't spoken to each other in a long time. Is that so hard to believe?"

"Maybe." Murdoch chuffed. "But wouldn't something like this bother your current boyfriend?" He grinned. Emily was getting mad.

"I don't believe in idle gossip." She snapped. "And I don't like any of you implying that something happened between me and Henry." She raised her voice. It almost echoed through the station. Waiting passengers drew their attention towards the chatting engines.

"We're not implying anything." Said James, a tiny smirk grew on his face. "We _know_ what happened between you and Henry. Don't we, hun?" James and Murdoch snickered with delight. Emily's face turned red with anger. She whished steam at the engines and stormed out of Knapford in a huff.

Meanwhile, Henry had completed his previous jobs quickly and without delay, something that made The Fat Controller sit up and take notice. He sent Henry down to Brendam Docks to collect some steel beams and bring them to the Ffarquhar quarry. The old sheds at the quarry were being rebuilt after one had suddenly collapsed. Henry tried to wait patiently as Cranky unloaded the beams onto his flatbed trucks. "Come on, big guy. Make with the unloading." Henry called out to Cranky. "I'll unload as fast as I can." Cranky snapped. "So shut up and sit tight." He grouched as he gently dropped one load of beams onto a flatbed. Henry sighed angrily and waited. Cranky chuckled to himself. "He he, you sly engine."

"What?" Henry asked loudly.

"Nothing." Cranky answered innocently and continued to work. At that moment, Salty the Dock Yard Diesel rattled up beside Henry. He smiled a great toothless smile to the exasperated green engine. "Ahoy there, matey." He greeted. "'Tis a fine day for steaming, isn't it?" Henry looked over.

"I wouldn't know." He sighed. "I've been getting so much shit from everyone today that I think I might as well just head over to the Mainland and be done with this place."

"Ahhh, they're just teasin' you, that's all." Salty laughed.

"Teasin'? Huh, that's a laugh." Henry huffed. "All these engines just love to hear about idle gossip. They crave it like recognition and… coal. They can't help but spread it around like fertilizer. It's sickening." Henry finished, he had worked himself into a boil.

"Oh, I dunno, me heartie." Said Salty calmly. "Sometimes idle gossip can help in ones favour."

"Why, what have you heard?" Henry wondered.

"Oh, I've heard plenty." Salty enlightened. "I also know one juicy story that will make your boiler shudder." Henry almost interested in what Salty had to say but then decided against it.

"You know what? Forget I even asked." He grumbled as Cranky dropped the last of the beams onto the flatbeds. "Look, I don't what you heard and I don't particularly care. As far as I'm concerned, everyone can take their tittle-tattles, their rumours and their hearsays and shove 'em up their fireboxes. I couldn't give a shit." As soon as the Dock Yard crews had tied down the steel beams, Henry set off angrily towards Ffarquhar quarry. Salty was rather hurt, whatever juicy bit of information he had for Henry would have to remain locked in his subconscious… for the time being. At Ffarquhar quarry, Toby and Mavis were chatting amongst each other. They had heard from Thomas about Henry and Emily's "night escapade" and were amazed to here it. They were wondering if any of it was true when Henry arrived with his load. The two engines didn't notice Henry approach until they heard his whistle. Toby and Mavis jumped and went deathly quiet. Henry didn't understand they had stopped talking. "Oh please don't stop on my account. Please, continue." He urged his comrades but they didn't want to. They tried to cover up what they were prattling on about.

"Talking? We weren't talking." Toby spluttered.

"Yeah dude." Mavis stammered. "We were… we were… making out."

"Yeah. _WHAT?_" Toby was horrified.

"Don't think I didn't hear you guys." Henry snorted. "The acoustics in this place is like a concert hall. You can hear everything from a long way." Toby and Mavis knew they were found out and had no alternative but to confess.

"Ok, fine." Toby huffed. "So we were talking."

"You weren't talking about me, were you?" Henry asked sternly.

"Oh my heavens no." Toby lied through his teeth. "We were just talking about the, uh… the, uh…" Toby struggled to find a good excuse.

"The weather?" Mavis butted in.

"Ah, yes, the weather! Certainly is a lovely day." Toby gave a nervous smile.

"It is?" Henry wondered, looking up at the sky.

"Hell yeah, dude." Mavis chimed. Her nervousness was getting to her. "Say, is that an Airbus A380 I can see?" She looked up into the blue sky.

"A380?" Henry looked up at the sky again. "I don't see an A3… 80." As Henry looked down, he could see that Toby and Mavis had scuttled off. Obviously, they didn't want Henry to find out about their "true" topic for discussion. "Too bad, I have these beams for them. Oh well." Henry's load was uncoupled and he set off to back to Tidmouth.

Meanwhile, Percy wasn't doing well with his "No Coffee At All" treatment. He was still shaking horribly and fidgeting like mad. There was still a lot of caffeine in his systems and it would take a long time before all of it burned off. Percy puffed down the line with his passenger train, he was edgy and the slightest movement from the environment made him jump. Percy's face was white as a sheet and his bloodshot eyes darted around. "Coffee." Percy muttered meekly. "Must have coffee to live."

"No, Percy." His driver, Ryan, spoke sternly to him. "You cannot have any more coffee, that stuff will only make you worse than your already are."

"Can't I just have one teensy little bit of coffee?" Percy pleaded. "I won't ask for any more, I swear."

"I said NO!" Ryan the driver thundered. Percy felt hurt, he started to wail loudly. His pain filled tears burned his bloodshot eyes. Ryan the driver didn't buy the act one bit. "Crying won't get you any coffee." Percy stopped crying.

"How'd you know I was faking?" He was amazed.

"I'm your driver, Percy, I know these things." Ryan smiled.

"Oh you suck!" Percy growled and tried to concentrate on his journey. As he pulled into Abbey station, Percy noticed Karen pulling up with to the station. She had taken amplifiers, digital equalizers and other equipment to Culdee Fell Station for the _Metal in the Mountains Rock Fest_. It was actually her idea to have such a festival on the Island. So naturally, the Fat Controller put her in charge of helping set up the festival by bringing in the equipment and the subsequent musical guests. Essentially, it was her baby. Anyway, as she pulled into the station, Percy noticed she was pushing a large tanker truck. It was clear that she was drinking coffee. Percy smelt the air and the clear aroma of French vanilla roast filled his smoke box. "She's got the poison." Percy mumbled, licking his lips. "I must have the remedy!" Percy shouted. Karen looked over to see Percy with wild eyes and lips licking like an insane old man.

"COFFEE! COFFEE! COFFEE! COFFEE! COFFEE! COFFEE! COFFEE!" he bellowed as loud as he could. Karen had no choice but to get the hell out of there and she fired out of the station like a rocket, hoping to put some distance behind her. "NNNNOOOOOOOOO COFFEEEEEEEEEE!" Percy cried like a madman. "Take me to coffee or I'll chop your legs off!" Percy demanded. His crew was beyond mad.

"Absolutely not!" Ryan the driver thundered. "Your behaviour has not only been appalling throughout this ordeal but also you're acting even more childish than before." The passengers were getting increasingly worried. Some of them leaned out to hear the argument better. "I am ashamed to think what the Fat Controller would say if he saw you like this. He would send you away for sure."

"But I need coffee." Percy pleaded hard. "I need it or I'll explode." Ryan and the fireman, Alfie, stepped out of the cab and spoke to Percy face to face.

"What part of "No Coffee" didn't you understand?" Alfie, the fireman, scolded. "That's means: zip, zero, zilch, nada! No coffee for you!" Alfie shouted but Percy didn't want to listen to reason. He had a one track mind.

"I don't care what you think." Percy boomed. "I… WANT… COFFEE!" Suddenly, Ryan the driver lost it and punched Percy right in the face. The passengers, the fireman and the station master gasped in horror. Percy felt something break, in fact, two things. His nose and Ryan's hand. The driver nursed his broken hand; he was horrified at what he had done. Percy fell silent as blood and soot started to drip from his nostrils. He then started to cry, it was genuine tears this time. "I'm sorry I punched you, Percy." Ryan apologized to his engine and leaned in to hold him. "I'm sorry, too." Percy sniffled.

"You know this is for your own good." Ryan said, acting very fatherly like.

"But it's so hard." Percy wailed again.

"I know it is, Percy. I know it is." Ryan said softly as Percy continued to cry. Soon, Bertie the Bus was called to take the remaining passengers to their destinations. He could see how badly Percy was hurting and immediately felt sorry for him. As the day drew to a close, Percy's nose set in bandages and his driver was sent home to recuperate his broken hand. The engines had gotten wind of Percy's temper tantrum and subsequent "reasoning" and took pity on him. Sir Topham Hatt was told the news and went down to Tidmouth sheds to speak with Percy. "I've spoken with your driver; he'll be out of work for a while until his hand is healed." The Fat Controller spoke delicately to the small green engine. "So I'll be sending a relief man to take his place. He'll help you out as best as he can."

"Thank you, sir." Percy sniffled.

"As for you engines." The Fat Controller continued. "I want you to help Percy out as best as you can too. Rest assured; we will make him feel better no matter what it takes." The engines agreed and Sir Topham Hatt got into his Morris Minor and headed for home.

"I hate this so much!" Percy cried.

"You're doing very well, Percy." Edward said kindly. "The first day was hard but the second day will be better, I promise." Percy didn't feel any better.

"But I feel rotten." Percy shuddered.

"Life is hard, Beavis." Thomas laughed, putting on a very bad Butthead voice.

"Screw you guys off!" Percy snapped. "I'm sorry I said that. But this is so hard."

"What are you complaining about?" Gordon huffed. "All of your whining is driving me to drink… even more!" The other engines were furious at Gordon.

"Have some fucking respect for other engines feelings, will you?" Molly snapped.

"Yes, that's right." Thomas added. "Can't you think of anyone but yourself for just a moment?" Gordon thought hard for a moment.

"No." he huffed. The engines rolled their eyes in dismay.

"Uh guys, where's Henry? And for that matter, Emily?" Percy asked shakily. The others hadn't a clue. "I'm afraid we don't know." Sighed James.

"We haven't seen them all day." Murdoch chuffed sadly.

"Well maybe that's because you pissed them off with your idle gossip and innuendo." Snapped Edward. "Honestly, I've never felt more ashamed to be acquainted with you engines." The others looked sad, except for Gordon who _still_ didn't know when to quit.

"He's probably doing a naughty thing… with _Emily_." Gordon sneered.

"What naughty thing?" Percy asked. Everyone was horrified and they shuddered with disgust as Gordon told the story of the "Birds and The Bees." A horrendously graphic but horribly inaccurate story. Murdoch puked ash again. Edward's face darkened like a storm cloud. Lightning flashed in his eyes. "That's enough, Gordon!" Edward thundered. Percy was scared out of his mind. He started to cry, for the third time in that day. His nose ached and his eyes burned. Edward sighed and attempted to comfort the little green engine. "I wasn't mad at you." he said softly. "I was mad at _that_ idiot over there." He flicked his eyes towards Gordon's direction. Gordon looked embarrassed.

"I know. It still hurts and I'm scared." Percy sniffed. Edward flicked his eyes to everyone else. The pity in the shed was clear as day.

"We're here for you, young Percy." Edward spoke calmly. This took their minds of the rumour and speculation concerning Henry and Emily and the horrible ideas which Gordon put in their heads a few moments ago.

Meanwhile, Henry and Emily decided to sleep in different parts of the Island. Emily slept in her old shed. Emily couldn't stand the sight of another engine, especially one dabbling in useless rumour. She meant no offence to Henry, of course, who was also the innocent party in all this. Henry decided to shack up with Karen at her rundown shed. At her shed, Karen was reading her _Thomas the Homicidal Tank Engine_ comic, a Jhonen Vasquez created piece, placed on a sheet music stand in front of her. She carefully flipped the pages with a baton on her mouth. Her Children of Bodom album was playing in the background. Henry tooted as he pulled up to the shed and trundled onto the rickety turntable. Karen was surprised to see him.

"Bro, what brings you by to my place?" Karen chuffed.

"I could hardly stay in that shed with all those gossiping engines." Henry explained. "I figured I'd spend the night here. If you don't mind."

"No, by all means, enter my parlour." Karen welcomed her brother in a creepy tone. Henry backed into the berth next his sister and his crew shut off his systems. Henry's crew said their goodbyes and headed off for home, but not before helping to pack away Karen's comic and "reading stand". As Henry's crew shut the doors, the two Black Fives sat and talked about the awfulness of the day. "So I heard from just about everyone that you spent the night with Emily." Karen spoke up.

"Well, don't believe a bloody word of it." Henry sighed. "It's nothing but a bunch of lies and speculation from a bunch of nosy steam engines who don't know when to keep their noses out of everyone's business."

"I don't believe a word of it either." Said Karen.

"Finally!" Henry puffed loudly. "Someone who isn't gullible."

"Let me guess, nothing happened between you two?" Karen laughed.

"Yes, exactly." Said Henry. "All we did is talk about the old times. We hadn't spoken to each other for a while, not since Diesel marked Emily as his territory. Is that so hard to believe?"

"Not hard to believe at all." Karen chuckled. "I can't imagine how Diesel must be feeling about this. He must be livid."

"I wouldn't know and I couldn't give a flying fuck what he thinks." Henry snorted. "As far as I know, the engines can have their speculation and rumour, 'cause I don't give a shit." Henry huffed deeply. The two engines fell silent. The sounds of the night could be heard from in the shed. An owl hooted from amongst the tree tops, crickets chirped and in the distance and the gentle tunes of Cannibal Corpse tuning their instruments was heard from atop Culdee Fell Peak.

"By the way, you'll never guess what happened today." Karen spoke up again. "Percy got punched in the nose." Henry was amazed.

"He did?" He wondered.

"Yes, his driver lost it after he tried to follow me with my tanker of coffee. Can you imagine that?" Karen explained. Henry felt sorry for Percy.

"Poor little steamer." Henry chuffed sadly. "That coffee addiction must really be tearing at him at the rivets."

"He'll get over it. The Fat Controller is counting on us." Said Karen, she was equally sympathetic to Percy's predicament. The two Black Fives yawned and drifted off the realm of dreams. Hopefully, their dreams would bring the engines to a better place then the world they lived in now. But that's another story.

The next morning, the Island of Sodor woke up to a somber mood. Percy was still shivering from his caffeine addiction, but he wasn't complaining anymore. He made a vow to himself to not think about coffee or anything coffee related. Try as he might, he could barely work without thinking of coffee. His relief driver urged him to think about pleasant things. Things that made Percy smile. And Percy tried. He thought about playing in the mud with Molly. He thought about having his face painted by Karen… as The Crow. He also thought about hanging with his friend Alfie the excavator. Percy imagined himself and Alfie as humans hanging at the arcade, playing antique video games and having a wonderful time. It certainly took his mind off coffee… for the time being. At the big station at Knapford, Percy pulled up to the platform humming a little tune. But as he came to a stop, he was surprised. Almost every passenger on every platform was sucking down coffee. Suddenly Percy wasn't thinking about pleasant things anymore, he was back on coffee. His relief driver, Guillermo, noticed on Platform One that there was an attendant with a _StarTrucks_ coffee-percolating machine handing out free coffee to everyone. He was not impressed. "Goddamn corporate propaganda." He sneered darkly at the attendant.

"Don't they know that some people are trying to kick their coffee habit?" Percy sniffed, still shivering.

"I'll take care of this." His relief driver said in a gruff Mexican accent. He stepped out of Percy's cab and pushed his way through the crowd, through the newly built underpass and stalked up to the cart attendant. He tapped him on the shoulder. "Pardon me, cabrón." Guillermo, the driver said. "But do you mind taking that cart and your business away from here? My little green friend over is trying to cut out of caffeine without you serving it up." The attendant was not amused. He was clearly too arrogant to understand Guillermo's request.

"Nothing doing, _Hector_." The attendant mocked him. "It's a free country and I have my orders, so get away from my face." Guillermo wouldn't take "no" for an answer.

"I don't think you understood me the first time, cabrón." Guillermo got in the attendants face. "Take this death water away this station and my friend, or you'll have to answer to me."

"Oh, go suck down a joint, Chong." The attendant snapped and so did Guillermo. He slammed an almighty fist into the attendants face, breaking his nose in two places. Everyone gasped. Guillermo then took the cart to the car park and flipped it over. Hot coffee spilled all over the tarmac. He then dusted off his hands and walked back to Percy's cab. Percy was shocked by what he had seen. "Is that better, my friend?" Guillermo asked the green engine.

"Uh… much, thank you." Percy smiled. At that moment, two policemen apprehended Guillermo and escorted him away. But he was unfazed; he just looked back at Percy and gave him a contented wink. Percy's fireman was unimpressed by this show of violence. For the second time, Percy had no driver. Phillip the fireman had to continue the journey solo until the next station. Percy, despite the circumstances, could only smile. He had never seen such devotion to an engine, especially from someone he had never met before. As he puffed down the line, one man short, Percy smiled a very wide smile. "I like him, he's cool." He said to himself. Now, he was even more determined to kick his habit for good. He even forgot about his badly broken nose.

Down at the Smelter's Yard on the Other Railway, 'Arry and Bert were about to start their shift. 'Arry was sucking down an unfeasibly large cigarette. His brother Bert rattled along side him. "Give 's a cigs, 'Arry." Bert asked his brother in steel. "'Aven't had me mornin' one yet." 'Arry's driver passed over a large custom made cigarette to Bert's driver and he lit it up with a blowtorch. He carefully placed it into Bert's mouth who took one great big puff. Bert was immediately at peace, letting out at a big contented sigh. "So 'Arry, 'ave you heard?" Bert asked.

"What?" 'Arry wondered. He was too busy enjoying his cigarette.

"Apparently that big green bastard Henry spent the night that Scottish engine, Emily." Bert informed. 'Arry choked up.

"You mean that bitch with the big, uh… wheels?" 'Arry wondered.

"Yeah, mate." Bert clarified. "The very same. That bastard practically stole Diesel's girl. He must be fumin'!"

"We should probably ask him." 'Arry snickered. A familiar horn echoed through the Smelters, it was Diesel. He had arrived with a load of old scrap iron to be melted down. "Speak of the devil." Said 'Arry jokingly. "Hey, Diesel!" he called to the black BR Class 08.

"What is it?" Diesel asked indignantly, his thick Russian accent bled out.

"Is it true, mate, that Henry stole your girl right from under ya?" Bert asked.

"I beg your pardon?" Diesel looked pissed.

"Yeah, that bitch Emily spent the night with that bastard Henry and now they're knockin' some wheels together." Said 'Arry. Bert guffawed.

"Knockin' wheels together." He laughed. "Good one, 'Arry." The two unkempt Diesels roared with laughter. But Diesel didn't find anything to laugh at, he was furious.

"Screw you Diesels." He roared. And he rattled out of the Smelter's Yard with fire in his eyes. 'Arry and Bert's laughter soon died down and they went back to their cigarettes. Meanwhile at Brendam Docks, Henry was steaming in to collect a second Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane fresh from the factory. Throughout his day, Henry hardly spoke a word to anyone. He was still fuming at everyone for spreading such bogus rumours. As much as the engines tried to make up for it, Henry just ignored them. As he steamed into the Docks, Henry spotted Diesel coming down his line. He was also fuming. "BASTARD!" Diesel growled madly.

"And a good morning to you too, Dictator Diesel." Henry huffed. He was in no mood to argue but Diesel was.

"You think you're so freaking special, don't you? Ha, DON'T YOU?" Diesel sneered, his lip quivered with madness.

"Well, maybe not special." Henry admitted. "But I…"

"SILENCE!" Diesel cut him off. "I going to kill you… you… mother fucking bastard!" Diesel suddenly surged forward, hoping to land a punch. But Henry's driver, Ted, slammed Henry into reverse and he sped out of Brendam Docks as fast as he could. The chase was on. The engines sped all the way past Suddery station, scaring the hell out of Percy. The engines thundered onto the mainline, rocketing past BoCo with his express.

"Holy crap!" BoCo cried in amazement. His passengers were equally amazed at the chase that rocketed by their windows. Henry tried to speed up but Diesel kept within distance of Henry's buffers. He had murder in his eyes. Henry's driver opened up the regulator further eventually opening some distance between Henry and Diesel. Eventually Henry reached Wellsworth station, he called out frantically to the station master as he whizzed passed. "Change the points! Change the points!" he puffed exhaustively. As Henry thundered by the points, the signalman pulled hard on the lever, switching the points. Diesel almost had Henry in is his sights. "Got you now, you filthy hippie." He scolded. Suddenly he was diverted to a siding.

"SHIT!" Diesel cried as his driver slammed on the brakes, but he crashed hard into a set of buffers, completely derailing. Henry breathed a sigh of relief; Diesel was no threat to him now. Diesel sustained a cut lip and damaged his buffers. His driver sustained a head injury and a concussion. The station master and a janitor helped the injured driver out of Diesel's cab and took him to the nearest hospital. Henry steamed up to talk to Diesel face to face. "Would you mind explaining your actions to me?" Henry demanded.

"I'll kill you for this!" Diesel hissed. "I swear I'm going to… kill you." Then Diesel broke out into tears. Henry was perplexed. First Diesel wanted to kill him, now he was crying like a child. Henry wanted to get to the bottom of this.

"Ok, this is getting weird." He said to himself. "Why are you crying, Diesel?"

"That bitch broke my heart." Diesel sniffled.

"Who, Emily?" Henry wondered.

"Yes." Diesel answered. "She broke up with me." Henry gasped.

"Broke up with you?" Henry couldn't believe it.

"Yes, she said I was too possessive and selfish and depraved for her tastes." Diesel tried to hold back the tears.

"No question there." Henry muttered to himself.

"And you know what else she told me?" Diesel rattled.

"What?" Henry asked.

"Emily told me she also wants you back." Diesel admitted.

"Wants me back? But why?" Henry was in shock. Diesel sniffled and breathed deeply, he was hoping it was the last of his tears.

"She saw how you've transformed yourself." Diesel sighed. "She loves the way that you've made yourself stronger from this experience. Can you believe that whore?" Diesel growled. Henry couldn't make heads or tails of this. Emily had always maintained that the two weren't compatible for a relationship. She wanted to be friends again and that was fine in Henry's books. But to get back together with him after it was her that ended things was something completely left-field and outrageous. He then remembered his day with Emily; maybe this was part of her plan to get him back. "Oh my God!" Henry said in realization. "How could I have been so blind?" Henry metaphorically slapped his face.

"Ah, the blind can see now." Diesel huffed. "You don't think that date of yours was anything but simpatico? It was her idea to have a date with you, right?" Henry thought back.

"It _was_ her idea." Henry answered.

"And, let me guess, she picked a romantic spot to meet you, right?" Diesel asked.

"Yes, she chose Black Loch Lake!" Henry was seeing it all clearly.

"And she took you to her shed, eh?" Diesel pointed out. Henry looked confused. "I know, because I followed you two." Henry gasped.

"I was mad because she didn't want to see me anymore." Diesel continued. "I wanted to speak to her so badly to straighten things out but I couldn't. She wouldn't leave you alone for a second. As if she knew I was watching you two the whole time. You were too blind to know but I saw it all clearly. I could see the love in Emily's eyes. The way she dressed you down, the way she laughed at all your jokes and the way she tried leaning in to you as if she tried to rest head onto your shoulder. Pah!" Diesel snorted. "I'm surprised you didn't know from the start." But Henry was surprised. All this time, Henry was part of Emily's weird little plan. He could have been flattered, but he was furious at her. His anger almost blinded him to Diesel's predicament.

"Oh my." He chuffed. "Can you get out of there?"

"I can't get out under power. My driver's concussed." Diesel said sadly.

"Uh, don't worry. I head out to get some help." Henry chuffed back.

"Fine, hurry and get help." Said Diesel. But as Henry was about to head out, Diesel called out to him. He issued a chilling warning.

"Be warned, stay away from Emily." Diesel's trademark demeanour returned. "That engine is poison, I tell you. She may be all sweet and loving, but underneath she's a man eater. A viper, I say. She'll chew you up and spit you out, like grasshopper." Henry shivered.

"I'll keep that in mind." Henry chuffed sadly. "I'll head out and get Rocky. Just sit tight." He tooted farewell and headed off to get help.

"Poison engine." Diesel said to himself as he shed a single tear.

After Henry had towed Rocky to the accident site and lifted Diesel onto a flatbed, Henry took the battered Russian to The Works. Then, he returned to Brendam Docks to complete his first job. Cranky was waiting for Henry to show up. By the time he arrived, Cranky was very impatient and agitated. "What the hell took you?" he snapped. "You've seriously delayed my work, you big green Casanova!"

"Oh, piss off!" Henry yelled with the anger of a mountain lion.

"Someone has engine PMS." Cranky muttered to himself. The Dockyard crews had chained down the Skycrane and were coupling Henry to the flatbed. "It's like I said before, matey." A disembodied said to Henry. It was Salty. "Sometimes idle gossip can work in one's favour." He spoke very calmly to Henry.

"You knew about Emily and Diesel's breakup?" Henry asked.

"Aye." Answered Salty. "Although it wasn't by accident. I had suspected that things weren't going so well with Emily and Diesel's relationship. Ever since you cast off the shackles of your former self, she could hardly keep her eyes off you. I sensed trouble in the waters. It was sometime after dear Molly came back into the fold when I saw Emily and Diesel enter into the Docks one late afternoon day. They parked beside the ship "Vienna II" as she sat in dock. I listened hard in hiding as Emily told the black Russian the grim news. She wanted no more with Diesel and said that it was you that she wanted. It was something that my old sea wheels couldn't comprehend, so I thought I'd keep it to myself, until the time was right. That little escapade of yours opened up a window for me to spill the goods but you wouldn't listen, which was something understandable. So that be it, my friend." Salty finished his story. "Now you know the truth. 'Tis no more speculation that Emily wants you back, 'tis reality." Henry couldn't believe what he had heard; he was also feeling shameful for blowing off Salty's juicy bit of news.

"Well, uh, thanks for telling me this, my friend." Chuffed Henry. "And I'm sorry about before." He said sadly.

"Think no more of it, matey." Salty smiled. "Just be glad that you're no longer in the dark about this."

"Could you get a move on, please?" The Dock manager broke into the conversation. Henry tooted goodbye and steamed off to the airfield to deliver the Skycrane. Henry had to make up for lost time. Later on, Henry steamed across the Island in search for Emily. He wanted to speak to her immediately. He asked his friends if they had seen her. Most of them didn't until Thomas and Rosie told him that they last saw Emily heading along the Peel Godred branch with some new pantographs to repair some of the engines. Henry raced along the line and caught up Emily at Abbey station. "Emily!" Henry called to her. She screeched to a halt.

"Henry." She smiled to him. "What brings you by?"

"Oh nothing really." Henry said to the Single Stirling sarcastically. "Just had a run-in with your EX-boyfriend! He told me everything that had happened after he tried to rearrange my buffers! Not to mention my face!" Henry was in an incredible boil. Emily gasped; she was amazed at Henry's revelation.

"Rearrange you're what what?" Emily was bewildered.

"Don't change the subject!" Henry boomed. "He told me that you broke up with him and now you want me back. Is that true?" Emily struggled to find the right answer; Henry was too cross to even care about her feelings.

"Come on, out with it!" Henry thundered.

"OK!" Emily snapped. "It is true. I did break up with Diesel and, yes, what he said about me wanting you back is true. Not just because of how things were going between me and Diesel but also because breaking up with you was a mistake in the first place!" Henry went silent. Suddenly his anger drained away.

"A mistake?" Henry squeaked.

"Yes." Emily sighed. "I thought that things weren't working out with us before, but when you changed for the better, all those old feelings came back. I hated Diesel for tearing your soul to pieces. I could hardly stand the sight of him. Every time I looked into his eyes, all I could see was the incredible guilt of you being torn down like that. So I had to break it off with him. It was for the better." Emily whistled softly.

"And why didn't you fucking tell me this before?" Henry wanted to know.

"I wanted to wait for the right time." Emily explained to the big green engine. "I wanted to smooth things out with you before I could tell you. You know, mend some bridges." Emily took a deep, long breath. "Henry, I still have feelings for you. Really I do." Emily sniffed. Henry had a hard time comprehending this. His mind was tearing itself apart trying to make sense of it all. Now, he didn't know what to think. The confusion and sudden revelations had left him numb. "What about that time we had at Black Loch?" Henry posed the question. "Was that only a test of our relationship, to see if we were compatible again?"

"No, that was just two friends spending quality time together." Said Emily. "That's all. I wanted to get back together with you for a long time."

"So, where do we go from here?" Henry wondered.

"We could try and start things over again. It'd be like old times." Emily wanted to hold hands with Henry but had no hands to hold. Henry wanted to do the same but his mind was already made up.

"I'm sorry. I don't know if it'll work." Henry chuffed sadly. "I still love you but I also still hate you. We can never go back to the way things were." Emily was almost crying.

"Just give it some time." Spluttered Emily. "I know this may sound corny and like something out of a crappy romantic movie but you'll turn around eventually. I know you, Henry."

"No, Emily, you don't." Henry sighed. And with that, he steamed away back to Knapford. Emily could feel great pain building up in her systems. Her eyes welled up with tears and started to cry. Sad rivers trickled down her cheeks as she sped off to her old shed. Emily wouldn't stop crying for the rest of the night. Not even when her crew shut off her systems and left for home. Emily's emotions were literally flooding out of her. She didn't know whether things would ever be the same again. She never felt so alone.

At Tidmouth sheds, things weren't looking so good either. The engines had heard everything. About Diesel and Emily's breakup, about Henry's brush with death and, of course, Emily's shock revelation. The engines had finally understood the power of a rumour and how such bad rumours and speculations can tear families apart, especially on the Island of Sodor. None of the engines could think of anything to say to remedy the situation. They just sat in silence. Percy was too heartbroken to remember his own pain. He certainly stopped shivering from his caffeine addiction. Molly couldn't bare the sight of her friends being torn apart by some childish gossip and foolish rumours. But she also felt responsible for her actions. Molly had teased Emily about what happened between her and Henry, something that she now regretted. Thomas was afraid that Henry was back to square one. He imagined Henry sulking away somewhere, alone with nothing but the night to blanket him_. Perhaps Henry is in his most favourite place_, he thought, _the forest_. Edward, who always had words of comfort up his non-existent sleeve, had no comforting words to remedy the situation. He had nothing to say. Murdoch and James were equally ashamed of their actions. Teasing Emily that there was more to their date than met the eye was, by all means, a terrible mistake. As for Gordon, well, he just shut up for a change. This time, Gordon _did_ know when to quit, not wanting to face the angry stares of his comrades. The sheds at Tidmouth had never been so quiet. None of the engines could even bare to sleep. Meanwhile, Henry chuffed alone to Karen's old shed. As he slinked onto the turntable, Karen was a little surprised to see him again. "Did your roomies throw you out again?" Karen chuffed.

"No. I just need a place to crash tonight." Henry answered sadly as the turntable completed its cycle and he backed into the berth next to Karen.

"Yeah, it's just as well." Said Karen. "I was feeling kind of lonely. My blonde roommate hasn't been here in a while. I figured she got sick of my company, can't say that I blame her."

"I figured she had moved into my space. I think it'll be better for everyone that I stay here for a while. I'm not doing anyone any favours." Henry sighed as his crew shut off his systems.

"Goodnight, Henry." Ted, the driver said sadly to his engine. The crew then shut the door and wandered home. Henry still had too much on his mind to even bother with sleep. Emily's revelation left him with open, burning scars; his old pain was coming back with a vengeance. The last time he felt pain like this was when he sat alone in the shed for so many weeks. Karen was visibly worried about her brother's sudden silence. "Is there something the matter?"

"Actually, there is." Henry confessed. "Emily said that she still has feelings for me."

"What? Whoa." Karen was stunned. "That is unbelievable."

"I know." Henry sniffed. "I found it unbelievable too."

"No, I mean, how can that freak be chasing after you?" Karen griped. "Isn't she still seeing that arsehole Diesel?"

"Actually, no." Henry corrected her. "She broke up with him because of all the guilt and aggravation that plagued her. Diesel said that she couldn't keep her eyes off me because I'm stronger now. I don't think I can handle this now."

"Are you going to go out with her again?" Karen was getting angrier.

"No, I can't." Henry sighed. "It'll be too painful and too awkward for me and for her."

"Well, good." Said Karen in relief. "But is she still pursuing you or something?"

"She is. Emily said that I should give this some time and that I'll come around to her eventually." Henry chuffed.

"Don't do it, man." Karen huffed. "If you go back to her, it'll only lead to more pain and more aggravation. You can't just submit to the engine that will more than likely slice your heart in two when things don't go her way. She's just setting you up for a fall."

"What if I do go back?" Henry asked.

"Because I you do, I will never forgive you and you will hate yourself for the rest of your life." Karen put down her ultimatum. "Don't you worry about Emily, bro. I'll straighten things out with her tomorrow."

"I can't have you fighting my battles for me." Henry groaned.

"Why not? You'd do the same for me." Karen protested. Henry didn't have an answer to that one. Instead, he just sighed and settled in for a long night. Karen sighed and dozed off to sleep as well. Tomorrow would be the hardest day to ever hit Sodor and Karen was counting on it.

The next morning, a somber mood had again wash over Sodor. The engines felt miserable, the passengers felt miserable, even the Fat Controller felt miserable. There was barely a sign of a smile from anyone. Not even Salty could find a reason to smile. The engines all worked hard, but they didn't enjoy it. They wanted the natural order of the Island to come back. It was killing them that things had gotten so bad. The engines wanted Henry and Emily back so badly but they didn't know how to get them back. Emily woke up still with sadness in her heart. Soot encrusted tears had caked on her cheeks and she steamed into the Yards looking like something out of The Crow. As she set out arranging trucks to take to the coaling plant, Karen steamed right up to her. Her expression showed clear determination. "Hey, Emz." Karen called to Emily.

"What is it, Karen?" Emily puffed.

"I heard that you're pursuing my brother again." Karen chuffed angrily.

"So what if I am." Emily scoffed at the Goth engine. "That is hardly your concern."

"It is now." Karen bellowed with anger. "I cannot fathom that idea that my brother is going out with the same engine that broke his heart. It'll only set him up to have it broken again and that I cannot allow."

"Why are you protecting him?" Emily sniffed.

"He's my brother and I love him. So he's the inside scoop, Queen Emily." Karen slithered darkly up to the GNR Single Stirling. "Keep away from my brother. He doesn't want to hang around the likes of you."

"What do you mean _the likes of me_?" Emily was getting mad.

"Heartbreakers, that's what I mean." Karen boomed. "And I'll tell you again, stay away from Henry or you'll have to deal with me."

"Who are you to tell me that I can't choose the engines I can go out with? You don't know shite about love and relationships." Emily growled back.

"I know enough about relationships, especially ones doomed to failure." Karen thundered. The love for her brother was unquestionable. She would do anything to protect him, no matter the cost.

"The only thing you know about relationships is how to destroy them, you painted harlot." That burned Karen. An inner rage surfaced inside of her, the likes of which never seen before.

"Bring it on, you bitch!" Karen clenched her teeth. The two big engines whished violent amounts of steam at each other. Each looking very determined and harbouring some serious anger in their systems. Karen cricked her bogie wheels ready to attack. Emily stretched her long coupling rods and spat out a huge glob of soot. The engines narrowed their eyes and in an effort of psyching each other out. Their impending battle caught the eyes of other engines in the Yards. Donald, Douglas, Duck, Oliver, Thomas, Daisy, Mavis and BoCo all watched from the "bleachers" as the two engines readied to pounce on each other. Karen's driver, Glen, was getting nervous. In his heart, he couldn't let his engine go through with such an act of violence.

"Why are doing this?" He asked her.

"For my brother, you nobhead." Karen snarled.

"This is crazy. You'll get yourself killed." He pleaded to her sanity.

"All the more reason to rip that bitch a new one." Karen's last bit of sanity had left the building. Fearing for her safety, Glen the driver shut off Karen's regulator.

"I can't let you do this." He crossed his arms defiantly.

"I can do this!" Karen protested. "If only you'd-"

"NO!" Glen cut her off. "This goes beyond anything you've ever done. And it's…" Suddenly, Karen was slammed back. Emily had made the first strike. Karen's crew was thrown about inside her cab. Emily, despite herself, smiled evilly. "Weak little child." She muttered. Inside Karen's cab, Glen the driver saw the red mist descend down over his eyes. He was salivating with rage.

"Big mistake!" He roared with grit in his teeth and he opened up the throttle wide. Karen's wheels spun and she jumped forward like a wildcat. Karen's roar was long and loud. She slammed heavily into Emily who sent her flying into a set of trucks, who were laughing foolishly. The crowd of engines recoiled in horror as broken wood and twisted steel flew everywhere.

"Oh, dude. That's gotta sting." Mavis cringed.

"OCH, _FUCK_ ME!" Donald cried. "That'll be teachin' those trucks tae ne'er laugh durin' a fight." He laughed.

"Ye got that right." Douglas laughed. Emily collected herself, shaking off the dust and splinters only to be slammed again into another set of trucks, kicking up dust and debris. The crowd cringed at the sight; they wanted something to break the somberness of the day. Well, their prayers were answered. Karen was feeling pumped, she felt like a female version of Rocky Balboa. All she needed a male version of Adrian and someone to play Mickey Goldmill. "Come on, bitch." Karen taunted. "Lemme see your bruises." Emily suddenly burst through the dust cloud screaming as she landed a sickening punch. Karen was sent flying backwards. Karen shook it off and charged into Emily. Both engines grappled with their buffers. Sparks flew as their driving wheels burned up the track. The crowd cheered on for their favourite fighter. Percy steamed in after delivering his mail. He stopped to see the commotion. "What's going on?" Percy asked BoCo.

"It's a catfight, my friend." He answered cheerfully. "Pure fucking cat scratch fever. It's marvelous."

"Can I watch too?" Percy asked with optimism.

"Sure kid, knock yourself out." BoCo smiled.

"Awesome." Percy peeped proudly and watched the fight ensure. Both big engines were still grappling. Each pushing their mettle… and their metal to the limit. They didn't care about anything else. As far as they knew, it was all about blood, sweat and steam. They wanted to best each other so much. Each wanted the other to yield. Emily pushed Karen back. Karen pushed back harder and a lot more vocally. Emily found added strength and pushed Karen further, crushing several trucks in the process. Karen's eyes burned with rage as she pushed Emily back. Her makeup was beginning to bleed off her face. The crowd hissed and hooted.

"That's it, girl. Smack that bitch up!" Daisy cried from the "good seats."

"Who's winning?" Thomas wondered.

"Who cares." Duck laughed. "I wanna see some blood and soot get spilled."

"I can't see anything." Percy complained.

"It's better that you don't." Said Oliver. "It's way too brutal."

"But I like brutal stuff." Percy whined as the crowd gasped as Emily socked Karen again. They grappled harder, they were losing steam but their rage boiled harder than ever. Karen growled and with a mighty thrust; she pushed Emily back into another set of trucks. The truck death toll was rising by the minute. Karen backed up for the finishing move. She was hoping to end this once and for all. She spat a loogie and cracked her bogie wheels again. "There's only one room for the strongest female on the Island." She laughed. But as she was about to puff forward, she heard a sickening crack. One of her coupling rods snapped and had jammed in the sleepers. Karen was helpless. The crowd held their breath. Emily saw an opportunity. "It's time to put an end to this, little girl." Emily sneered and with a great flash of steam, she rocketed towards her crippled fighter. And then, it all seemed to go in slow motion. As Emily made contact with Karen's buffers, her large buffers broke off on impact. Emily climbed up Karen's frame and footplate. One broken buffer clocked Karen in the eye. Sparks flew as Emily started to roll. Karen jerked back. The crowd was speechless. Emily's driver and fireman were thrown from the cab, landing hard in an empty truck. Emily rolled left, taking out several trucks before slamming hard on her side. Emily's cheek was cut. Dust and debris went everywhere. With both fighters incapacitated, the fight was over. Karen's eye started to swell and bleed. The crowd didn't know what to make of it. They were left stunned. "Did I miss something?" Percy yelped.

The Fat Controller had arrived late to work because of engine troubles with his Morris Minor. He had seen the aftermath from the platform. He was absolutely infuriated. "What is all this nonsense? Why are you engines standing around like a bunch of spectators at a cockfight? Get out of here, all of you!" The engines scurried away with their tails between their legs. The Fat Controller then looked over to the carnage around him. Piles upon piles of broken trucks lay scattered for yards. He then saw Emily tipped on her side and Karen with a swollen eye and a broken coupling rod. The Fat Controller wasn't in the mood for excuses. "Who started this?" he thundered. "She did!" Both engines screamed at once.

"I don't want to hear a bloody word from either of you!" The Fat Controller boomed. "Once you are back on the rails, you're _both_ confined to The Works shed. NO excuses! You could have killed your crews, the workmen and yourselves. You ought to be ashamed of yourselves! Unbelievable!" The Fat Controller then stormed off to his office. The yard manager called for all available lifting equipment and then the paramedics to attend to the injured crews. Harvey and Murdoch took the broken engines away, they wished they could have seen the fight themselves but that would only lead to trouble. As the sun set on a strange day on Sodor, the two battered engines sat side by side in the Works shed. They said nothing but glared at each other; both wanted another piece of each other. Karen's eye was bandaged up and Emily's cut cheek was plastered. As they sat in hateful silence, Henry steamed up to see them. To call him displeased would not do justice. This was beyond displeasure. "Well, I should have known something like this would happen." Henry huffed angrily. "This is reprehensible, even for _you_." He sneered at Emily. "Karen, what were you thinking? I told you that I don't want you fighting my battles for me. I'm a grown engine and I can take care of my problems, _without_ resorting to useless violence."

"Yes, _brother_." Karen groaned.

"And you!" Henry glanced over to Emily. "What the hell possessed you to start something this repugnant?"

"I didn't start this." Emily protested. "It was her fault, she antagonized me, telling me what I can and can't do."

"Wouldn't be the first time." Karen sneered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Emily snapped.

"You know exactly what that means, _Queen_ Emily!" Karen mocked her.

"Och, get bent, you harlot!" Emily scolded.

"Go fuck your commie ex-boyfriend up the arse, you ugly hag!" Karen growled. The two engines broke out into a violent argument. They insulted each other like rabid animals. Henry in exasperation rolled his eyes. He tried to calm down the battling hens but they didn't listen. Henry was losing his temper. Until finally, he cracked it. "ENOUGH!" Henry thundered. His voice echoed across the yards. Everything seemed to come to a stop. The two battle scarred engines froze in mid insult. They were left stunned. "See, this is why I don't want women in my life. They will only cause trouble." Henry said delicately. "It's like you said, Karen, all women are bitches and you two are the prime example of this."

"What?" Karen and Emily shrieked at once.

"I know it sounds cruel and hurtful, but it's true." Henry looked to his sister. "Here we have a female engine who takes extreme measures to a whole new level." Then he glanced over to Emily.

"And here we have another female engine that takes the art of making enemies and breaking the hearts of men to a vicious level of repulsion. Seriously, have you two ever taken a long hard look at yourselves?" Henry sneered. The two female engines were furious at Henry.

"How can you say that?" Karen scolded.

"How dare you imply that I'm a man eater!" Emily snarled. And the two female engines argued viciously at the same time at Henry. Their anger was no longer directed at each other but at the big green engine, the proverbial reason and cause for their almighty brawl. Henry tried to remain calm but the arguments grew in intensity until… "SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU FUCKING BITCHES!" Henry exploded into a vicious rage. The female engines held their tongues. Henry's roar echoed across the Island. Even the narrow gauge engines heard Henry's roar. In fact, they heard it first. At Crovan's Gate, the little engines clearly heard "… BITCHES… BITCHES!" echoing through the yards. They all gasped in horror and immediately looked at Duncan, who was equally surprised. "What?" he grunted. The little engines glared at him. Then Mr. Percival glared at him. "Duncan." He grunted sternly, crossing his arms.

"I didn't say that, Mr. Percival. I swear on my funnel." Duncan pleaded. "And my driver's balls." His driver cringed with dismay.

"What a way to plead your case, Duncan." Said Peter Sam.

"Go ride in the special carriage with your special funnel." Duncan groaned.

"Duncan, you know about our little deal about swearing." Mr. Percival said. "Be off to the shed with you." Duncan hissed exasperatedly.

"He he, you got in trouble." Sir Handel laughed.

"Shut up." Duncan snarled and he steamed angrily to his shed.

"Ding dong, the dick is gone." Sir Handel sung out loud.

"Which old dick?" Peter Sam asked cheekily.

"Duncan the dick!" Sir Handel finished.

"Sir Handel and Peter Sam. Keep your filthy songs to yourself or you'll be joining Duncan in the shed." Mr. Percival warned his engines and they went back to work. Mr. Percival was a disciplinarian when it came to profanity from his engines. But all the same, he couldn't help but laugh. "Pppfffttt! Duncan the dick." Mr. Percival chuckled to himself as he walked away to his office.

Meanwhile, Henry's voice drifted as far as Knapford station. "… BITCHES… BITCHES!" The engines clearly heard. They shook in fear at the sheer brutality of it. "Oh dear!" Gordon yelped. "That scared me so much I dropped my drink!"

"Oh dear, he's doing it the LMS way." Duck quivered.

"Och, that kin nae be good." Donald trembled.

"Aye, brother." Douglas gulped. "'Tis a crazy train that steams among us." He shivered. Back at the Works, Henry's face had become redder then anything seen from the depths of hell. He grunted with anger with each deep breath he took. His eyes were wide and had flames spewing from his iris'. They showed clear madness. Karen and Emily exchanged frightened looks. "You engines are impossible! Impossibly pathetic and impossibly fucked up!" Henry was in the biggest boil he had ever been in. "You both are quite possibly the most irritating, self-absorbed, self-serving engines that I've ever laid eyes on. How and why the Fat Controller chose the both of you to join our peaceful Island is beyond me. Frankly, I think Sir Topham is losing brain cells from all that fatty food he consumes 'cause I'm sure he was going mad when he brought you both here! I can hardly bear to look at you!"

"But look, if we could just explain-" Emily pleaded innocently.

"I don't want to hear another Goddamn word from both of you." Henry cut her off. "I'm leaving, there's no possible reason why I should be seen with the both of you. Impossible. Absolutely impossible!" Henry huffed and he steamed angrily away. Both female engines were burned. To be broken down like this was indescribable. Not even the Fat Controller would have said such hate filled words to them, not even when they did the most apprehensible things. This was mind-boggling. Finally, both female engines now had some common ground. One was in love with Henry and the other loved him as a brother. "He's right, you know." Emily chuffed sadly.

"About you being a man eater?" Karen snickered.

"NO! I mean, yes." Emily admitted. "That and the fact that we're both impossible engines."

"Oh, yeah." Karen sighed.

"I've never seen him so angry before." Said Emily.

"I have and plenty of other engines that just explode like that." Karen puffed glumly.

"I didn't want it to end like this." Emily shed a tear. "All I wanted was for Henry to love me again. I just so wanted to turn back the clock to the way things were between me and Henry. Now I fear I may have lost him for good."

"You think that's bad?" Karen spoke up softly. "I fear I may have lost the only engine that I've connected on the Island. And treated me as family, not just some punk replica or a freak from the Mainland."

"I've always been terrible with relationships." Emily revealed. "No matter how hard I tried, I've never been able to maintain a steady relationship with anyone. Sometimes I just antagonize the engines I worked with over the years that they just plain resent me. In my twisted little mind, I thought I was just helping them along with their work, acting so high and mighty, but in reality, I just made them mad. It was the same with my relationships. I pushed them to be better and sometimes their best wasn't good enough for me. Hence I always broke things off with them. Huh, my track record is nothing but a meandering track of torn lovers and spiteful ex's. It's pathetic when I come to think of it." Emily cried; she was visibly in pain.

"Do you know how hard it is for me to even make friends?" Karen raised her voice. "Most of them just took one look at me and they immediately want nothing more to do with me. I always felt so isolated and alone. Finally I just said "Fuck it" and gave up on making new friends. Well, the ones who wouldn't give me the time of day. That's why I gained such an attitude." Karen paused to catch her breath.

"I was afraid and bitter of letting new engines into my life that I couldn't help but push them away." Karen sniffed. "I've antagonized every good engine and person that came into my life. Sometimes I so afraid and hateful of myself that I wanted to be scraped or have my smoke box blown away by a howitzer, but my fitter advised against such actions. He said that I was a special engine and I should learn to let others in. The engines that stuck by me are the ones that will never leave my heart. I loved them all. I miss them all too." Karen shed mascara stained tears. A black spot grew on her bandage.

"My driver's over the years had warned me to take my relationships slow and don't make it all about me." Emily spoke up again. "I never listened to a bloody word they said and I made all relationships about me. I never really gave my partners a chance to do something they wanted. In their minds, they thought that I was being too needy and too much of a drama queen. They were right, of course, but it kept happening with every association after that. Nothing changed and I learned nothing. I assumed that things were working with each relationship I had but really, the problem was me, the disease that killed every single last one of my liaisons. It sickened me that I couldn't make anything work, especially with my own crew." Emily sighed heavily and sniffled. "I suck at relationships."

"It's been the same with every railway I've been to." Karen tagged in for her two cents. "The News South Wales Government Railways, the Union Pacific, the former Pennsylvania Railroad, the Soviet Railways, the German Federal Railway and the Victorian Railways. They all shipped me away when they didn't want me or they got sick of my attitude. I was left bitterer knowing that I was leaving another friend behind. I felt incomplete without my friends. But every time I thought I would be alone again, someone would always come along to be friends with me. Then I was shipped off to another railway and the whole cycle would start over again."

"Our lives are permeated with misery and pain." Emily made a grim assessment.

"We're just bruised and darkened souls living a lie." Karen agreed.

"We're very much alike. Like sisters." Emily looked over to Karen.

"Yeah. We are." Karen puffed. The two engines stared forlornly at each other for some time. They had indeed found their common ground, in each other. Then the two battered engines began to smile at one another. You could say that the two had actually bonded, even though just a few hours ago, they wanted to mop the floor with each other. "You love you brother, don't you?" Emily asked the smiling Black Five.

"Damn straight." Karen chuffed. "I'd do anything for my family. I'd kill for Henry." Emily wasn't sure about that last one. "And do you still love Henry?" Karen wondered.

"Yes I do." Emily smiled. "More than you'll ever know."

"I can see why you love him." Karen smiled back. "He's a good engine. A little headstrong but a good engine."

"And always shouting his mind. He makes the Fat Controller look like a Sunday school teacher." Emily laughed. Karen laughed with her. The two engines couldn't stop laughing until the physical pain of the fight set in.

"By the way, where'd you learn to fight dirty like that?" Karen inquired.

"Back in Glasgow. I learned to fight dirty back in the old days." Emily explained.

"No shit!" Karen said very astounded. Karen and Emily talked all whole night long, swapping stories about the old days. They had made for their early discretion but they still had a lot to make up for once they were repaired and back in action. A LOT to make up for.

A few days went by and life on Sodor was slowing coming back to normality. With Karen out of action, she couldn't help prepare for the _Metal in the Mountains_ festival. The scheduling was changed and the festival was postponed until further notice. Molly and Edward helped Percy conquer his caffeine addiction. He had never felt cleaner in his life. Percy was nearly back to his old self again. He stopped shaking violently, he was no longer irritable and he started sleeping better. His nose was healing nicely and it was almost time for the plaster to come off. But the most amazing thing of all was that his relief driver, Guillermo, had returned to man the little green engine's controls. The Fat Controller bailed him out of jail and vouched for his innocence. He helped to plead Guillermo's case to the police until they met with an agreement. Guillermo would pay restitution for the reconstructive surgery on the coffee cart attendant's face and damage to his cart. He was also put on probation. Should Guillermo ever act out like that again, he would be sent back to prison. But Percy didn't care; he was pleased to see him back. Percy liked Guillermo so much that he wanted him as his permanent driver. But that would have left his old driver Ryan out of a job so Percy asked the Fat Controller if he could have two drivers instead of one. "An engine with two drivers?" The Fat Controller said bewilderedly. He pondered for a moment. "Please, sir." Percy begged. "Guillermo helped me with my problem and I don't want so him go back to jail." The Fat Controller's decision wasn't made any easier by this.

"I'll think about it, young Percy." The Fat Controller sighed. Percy immediately thought that was a "yes." As for Percy's original driver, Ryan, he was recuperating nicely. His hand was healing slowly but was still feeling tender. Ryan was an avid guitar player and he was disappointed that he couldn't practice on his beloved instrument. He was also disappointed that he couldn't man his beloved engine. Ryan missed Percy terribly and wanted to get back to work as soon as possible. The other engine crews were also healing slowly. Diesel's driver was still feeling the effects from his concussion and he was told that he would be out of action for at least three months. As for Diesel, he was completely repaired from his accident with a new driver, Andreev, to take over the "vacant" position. Karen's crew was put on sick leave as they had sustained some injuries during the unscheduled fight with Emily. Glen her driver had torn open his leg after gashing it on the brake lever. Karen's fireman, Bruce, also sustained cuts and bruises. Physically, he was strong and could take any serious punishment. Back in college, he was on the wrestling team, winning many tournaments and trophies. However, The Fat Controller urged him to go on sick leave; just to be sure that he was healed properly. As for the sickening fate of Emily's crew, her driver had also sustained head injuries and eight broken ribs from being thrown into the truck. Emily's fireman broke his left fibula and ulna from the heavy impact. He was disappointed that he couldn't play _Guitar Hero III_ with his son and daughter.

Henry hardly spoke to anyone after his vicious tirade to Emily and Karen. He still worked his hardest on the North Western Railway, without acknowledging his friends and co-workers. Henry was reflecting deeply on his personal life and that of his sister and ex-girlfriend. His words to them were deeply harsh and soul-crushing. He felt terrible about what he had said and couldn't bear to face his younger sister and his ex. Not because he was angry at them but because he felt guilty. He still loved them both equally but he still couldn't face them. At nights, Henry slept in Karen's old shed. It felt empty and dark without Karen's presence. Sometimes, Henry didn't sleep at all. He just sat in silence, alone in the dark. Sometimes other engines would stop by the shed, enticing Henry to come back to Tidmouth. But Henry declined every offer with depressed silence. One time, Molly the yellow Claud Hamilton stopped by and decided to spend the night with Henry, just so that he wasn't alone. Although he never said anything, Henry was grateful that someone actually cared enough to stay with him. As much as things improved on the Island, the atmosphere was still gloomy. The engines at Tidmouth sheds missed their two missing friends. Although other engines quite literally filled the missing gaps in the shed, there were still the empty spaces in the engines hearts and minds. Were they ever going to see or hear from Henry and Emily again? Were things ever going to be the same again? They didn't know. Only time would be the deciding factor. They would have their answers soon enough.

One day, Percy was at Knapford station having his plaster removed from off his nose. It had healed well. Percy never felt so relieved to have his old self back. Once the plaster was taken off, he took a deep breath. The air never smelt sweeter. "Yippee!" Percy cried delightedly. "I can smell the wild flowers again. And the trees and the-" Just then, Percy heard Henry's whistle from behind. He saw Henry pull up to the platform next to him, he still looked rather glum. "HENRY!" Percy cried at the top of his boiler, very much delighted to see him.

"Oh, hey there, Percy." Henry chuffed glumly. "I see your nose is better."

"Yes, my nose _is_ better." Percy peeped proudly. "I can smell everything again!" He yelled excitedly and he smelled the air again. Every smell filled his nostrils. The light, feathery smell of steam. The thick, black smell of exhaust fumes from Sir Topham Hatt's aging Morris Minor. The smell of fresh tea from the Refreshment stand. Everything smelled so fresh and wonderful. Percy was beside himself. "I feel like some tea." He peeped. Then he remembered. "Then again, maybe not."

"It's good to see things are getting back to normal." Henry puffed.

"Not as normal as you might think." Henry heard a voice. It was Gordon with his express. He had steamed along side Henry along platform One. Gordon looked as blue as his trademark paintwork. "Oh, hey Geordie." Henry greeted the LNER Class A3.

"Still feeling the pinch of your impromptu tirade?" Gordon asked.

"As a matter of fact, yes." Henry replied meekly. "The things I said to my sister and my ex. Horrible things, they didn't deserve a word of it. But they were literally fighting over me."

"I know; my driver showed the video tape." Said Gordon.

"All the emotion and all the pain and suffering. They literally spilled… " Henry suddenly paused. "Video tape?" he was curious.

"From the new security cameras." Gordon explained.

"Oh." Said Henry blankly.

"I didn't see much from my angle." Percy peeped. "But from what I saw, they were fighting for your soul and your well-being. Karen and Emily love you very much."

"Even if it meant to the point of death." Gordon added.

"They weren't fighting for my well-being." Henry steamed. "My sister would have fought for the hell of it. Still, I know why she would have done that." He puffed sadly.

"We would have done the same for you, sweetie." A voice was heard. It was James and Murdoch, pulling up side by side to the further platform. They had overheard what the engines were talking about.

"Really?" Henry was astonished. "You'd fight for me?"

"Damn straight, my man." Murdoch chuffed proudly. "We'd do the same for anyone. No one ever dares to mess with our friends."

"Especially the ones that matter the most." James added.

"Yeah, me too." Percy peeped. Henry felt a little better. Just then, Molly backed in to Knapford with two brand new refrigerated trucks packed with frozen vegetables. She was looking as bright and cheerful as her paintwork. Indeed, she was surprised to Henry. "Howdy, Mr. Orange, Mr. Red, Mr. Green and Mr. Blue." She greeted her fellow colleges. The engines greeted back. "Greetings Ms. Yellow." James lisped back.

"Oh and the other Mr. Green." Molly smiled at Henry. "Back from exile, are you?"

"More like self imposed hibernation." Henry chuckled.

"Oh how we have missed that sharp wit of yours." Molly chuffed brightly.

"Sorry if I'm not as cheerful and bright as you are but I'm nursing some internal injuries." Said Henry unhappily.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Molly puffed with pity. "It just hasn't been the same without you, Henry. Been so quiet without you shouting up a storm anyway."

"Yeah, and without dear Emily acting like a drama queen." James added.

"Still, it's good to see you getting back in the scheme of things." Gordon said grandly. "Hopefully, we'll be seeing you back in the sheds tonight."

"Sure was a good run." Molly muttered.

"Yeah well, frankly I'm not sure if I want to come back to Tidmouth." Henry chuffed. All the engines gasped.

"Nonsense." Gordon boomed. "Tidmouth is your home. It would be a shame if you didn't come back. An absolute shame."

"Thanks for that." Henry smirked. "I'll probably come back in the future, but right now is not a good time for me. I need to get my affairs in order."

"We understand." Said Percy understandingly. The others agreed.

"By the way, have you been to see Karen and Emily as of late?" Gordon inquired.

"No, I couldn't bear to face them, not after my tongue lashing. Have any of you?" Henry asked.

"Last time I checked up on them, they were still pretty banged up. Not just on the outside. You must have given their souls a severe pounding." James answered.

"About as severe as any accident." Henry waxed philosophic.

"You should speak to them again." Gordon urged his big green colleague. "I'm sure they're dying to speak to you again as well."

"Perhaps I should just bite the bullet and apologize to them. Set things right again." Henry sighed deeply.

"That's right, old chap." Gordon chuffed proudly. "They deserve it. Besides, they've experienced enough pain for one lifetime." And with that, Henry was off to The Works, hoping to seal up the open wounds he caused.

At the Works, Emily and Karen were nearly repaired. Karen's eye had healed up; all that was left was bruising underneath her eye. The two engines were looking miserable. Being shut up in a shed for days on end had worn their spirits thin. Despite bonding with other over a common source, the two engines hardly talked. They couldn't think of anything to say to each other, but they did think a lot about their common source – Henry. Having not seen him since his outburst, the two engines wondered if they were ever going to see him. Suddenly, they heard the most beautiful whistle they had ever heard. Emily and Karen's face lit up with joy as they saw Henry steaming towards the Works. They thought him the most beautiful sight they had ever seen on Sodor. "HENRY!" they cried together.

"Hi there, girls." Henry smiled as he screeched to a halt. Karen and Emily started to talk excitedly at once. If they had arms, they would embrace him and never let go. To say that they were overjoyed to see Henry again was an understatement. Henry smiled and tried to calm the two female engines down. "Calm down, you two." He said gently and they did.

"Oh Henry, I thought we weren't going to see you again." Emily cried with tears of joy.

"We thought you had left the Island or something." Karen added.

"No, I just needed time to myself." Henry sighed. "To think about all the shit that has gone down. I've tearing myself apart for saying those terrible things to you both. I was completely out of line. I mean, how could I rip, grind and tear apart the two most important engines in my life? I should be scraped for that."

"Don't say that, brother." Karen sniffled. "You shouldn't kill yourself over something like this. I know because I almost went down that path too."

"That's right." Emily added. "Engines and people make mistakes all the time. That doesn't mean that they should shove themselves off this mortal coil. No, they make up for their mistakes. As we did with each other."

"Really?" Henry was amazed.

"Yeah, we kinda opened up communications between us after you left in such a rage, found some common ground and, uh, kissed and made up for that… skirmish." Karen laughed.

"But you two were practically champing at the bit ready to kill each other." Henry chuffed. "How can you go from pure blood drunk to acting like sisters?"

"Like I said, Henry." Emily spoke up. "People and engines make mistakes and they make amends for them."

"Which brings me here." Henry cleared his throat. "I'm sorry for everything that I said to you both. Like I said, I crossed the line and I'm totally at fault for this. If it wasn't for me, you two wouldn't have gotten into so much trouble and, I'd imagine, a lot of pain. I certainly hope you can forgive me." Henry chuffed sadly. Karen and Emily just smiled.

"And you know what, brother?" Karen puffed. "We forgive you."

"Thank you for being so understanding." Henry smiled back.

"Hey, what are friends and family for?" Emily chuffed with an almighty grin on her face. Henry laughed and the three engines spent the rest of the day talking openly about everything. They each shared the inner most feelings and personal secrets about themselves. Even as the sun went down, the engines were still talking up a storm. They didn't want the day to end; they had missed each other so much that they couldn't bear to be separated. When it came time for Henry to leave, Emily and Karen wept as he steamed into the night. It would still be some time before they operational again, it was better to be safe then sorry.

A few days passed on the Island of Sodor. At last, Emily and Karen were fully repaired and returned to work as usual, much to the fanfare of their comrades. With their original crews out of action, the two engines had to make due with relief crews. Emily got right back on the horse with her "guaranteed connection" and Karen returned to the mass preparation of the _Metal in the Mountains_ festival. Everyone was glad to see the two proud female engines back in action. Apart from Daisy who wanted to see the two of them slug it out again. Maybe next millennia. Eventually, all preparations for the _Metal in the Mountains_ were complete and the rock fest was scheduled to start that very Saturday. There were many huge name metal and punk bands set to arrive on the shores of Sodor: Cannibal Corpse, Dethklok, H.I.M, All That Remains, Slayer, Dimmu Borgir, Into Eternity, The Offspring, Avenged Sevenfold, Lamb of God and Dragonforce just to name a few. All these groups had never graced the shores of Sodor, most of them having never seen engines acting like sentient beings. Although Ville Valo of H.I.M was very good friends of Karen strangely enough. The festival just wasn't about music. There were rides, a "NYC hardcore-style" shooting gallery, break-dance demonstrations, video game stalls that allowed attendees to play _Guitar Hero III,_ stalls that served food and a wrestling ring where several top rating wrestlers from the States would strut their stuff in exhibition matches. Apparently, Karen was a big fan of Kane and The Undertaker. Finally, the big day arrived. "Judgment night," As Karen joking referred to it as. The residents of the Island flocked in their thousands to attend the festival. All the engines were kept busy, traveling to and from Culdee Fell station with their _Concert Specials_. The engines on the mountain railway were amazed by the turnout as well. Culdee and the other mountain engines had quickly made friends with Karen as she traveled between Knapford and Culdee transporting equipment and musical guests. They didn't look away the first time they saw her. They all thought she was cool, apart from Patrick who thought she was captivating. The others teased him for that, saying that he had a soft spot for her. Patrick always denied it but, in his mind, he thought differently. Anyway, the engines were all excited at the prospect of having so many musical guests coming to the Island. They all wanted to stay and watch the festivities. The Fat Controller agreed. The engines sat and watched the rock fest long into the night.

Henry arrived late to the rock fest, having being caught up with a late night goods run. As he steamed closer to Culdee Fell, Henry could clearly hear the sounds of The Offspring thumping out their classic tune _All I Want_. All the teens seemed to enjoy it. They were throwing themselves about in the mosh pit like mad men… and women. The Fat Controller thought it was the most stupid thing he had ever seen, until he got into the action. Pulled into the pit by a group of wild teens, the Fat Controller was biffed and pushed around like crazy. One adrenaline fueled Goth girl even stole Sir Topham's Hatt. Lady Hatt, on the other hand, was more contented to sipping Tequilas with Gordon to even give a shit. Henry steamed past James and Murdoch on a pair of sidings. James was apparently enjoying the music so much that he wanted to get up and boogie. Although he had no legs to boogie with. "These guys aren't that bad." He lisped excitedly. "I think I might just expand my CD collection."

"I thought you would enjoy it." Murdoch smiled. All of a sudden, he puked up ash and ground up meat. James was surprised, though not as surprised as Murdoch.

"Did you go to that Sodor Sausage Festival?" James lisped annoyingly. Murdoch tried to think of a good excuse.

"Uh… I was hungry." Murdoch answered with a nervous smile on his face.

"Oh Murdoch." James sighed in exasperation. Henry slowly puffed past Percy and his driver, Guillermo. Percy tried to sing along with the punk classic but he didn't know the lyrics, so he made up his own. "_So butter my buns, butter my toast '__cause my boiler is grumblin' like hell YEAH!_" Guillermo couldn't help but laugh. As The Offspring's song rang to a close, the crowd went wild, throwing their arms in the air and saluting the punk group with "devil horns". The engines also joined in that regard, celebrating with a chorus of toots and whistles. In the background, Toby and Mavis were, indeed, making out. But that's a completely different story. Karen was conversing with Patrick the mountain engine at the platform. The two seemed to enjoy each others company. "Awesome show, my dear. You've done a wonderful job setting this up." Patrick congratulated the ecstatic Goth engine.

"Thank you." Karen blushed. "It's nice that someone appreciates what I've done here."

"I think everyone else does too." Patrick smiled as he looked over to the stage; the band members were praising the crowd's enthusiasm. Noodles the guitarist took a bow and briefly left the stage. The crowd started to chant. "We want more! We want more!" The engines chanted louder.

"WE WANT MORE! WE WANT MORE!" The noise was unbelievable. "I wanna cookie. I wanna cookie." Percy peeped to his driver. Guillermo just snickered.

"Oh, little one! Sometimes you slay me." he chuckled. Henry slowly steamed past Edward and Molly. They were having a wonderful time. Edward had invited Molly to join him for the festivities. She accepted without hesitation, being more in tune with the modern trends then Edward ever was. "You did a very good job with Percy." Edward spoke to the giggling yellow Claud Hamilton.

"Thank you, Edward." Molly smiled.

"The young one's never looked better." Edward continued. "We all have you to thank for all your determination and hard work."

"It was nothing. I'd do anything for a friend." Molly chuffed. "God, I love this Island so much." She whistled sweetly. Henry finally rolled to a stop beside a cheering engine. Unexpectedly, he had stopped next to Emily. The two engines gave each other silent stares before looking away nervously. Henry and Emily looked over to each other again and, eventually, they smiled. "Alright. Here's another oldie for you guys!" Dexter Holland, the lead vocalist, of the group called from the stage. "This one's called _Gone Away_." He finished. The crowd went ballistic as Pete Parada the drummer commenced the opening drum beat before Noodles pranced back on stage with a _Thomas the Homicidal Tank Engine_ T-shirt, plucking wildly away at his axe. Thomas was impressed with what he had seen and tooted along to the beat. His "date" for the evening, Rosie, tried to toot along with him but decided against it. Instead, she tried to lean in to him, as if trying to rest her head on his shoulder. "I love you, Thom-Thom." Rosie said softly.

"Excuse me?" Thomas peeped in confusion.

"Nothing." Rosie covered up, blushing wildly. Thomas went back to his "toot-along" while Rosie just enjoyed the evening, feeling awfully embarrassed. As for Henry and Emily, they didn't say a word to each other. They didn't need to; just the look in their eyes spoke volumes. And you certainly don't need to spell the word "love" to these engines; they felt it in their systems. The _Metal in the Mountains_ festival lasted long into the night. With so many acts lined up, the engines wouldn't be getting any sleep. But they didn't seem to care. The night was a fantastic success. But then again, everything is a success on the beautiful Island of Sodor.

THE END


End file.
